Retail Inflation Inches up to 2.86% in March, Industrial Output Growth Stays Flat

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New Delhi: India’s retail inflation saw a marginal rise of 2.86 per cent in March on account of increase in prices of food articles and fuel, while industrial output growth remained flat at 0.1 per cent in February on account of a slowdown in the manufacturing sector.

The inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 2.57 per cent in February this year, government data released on Friday showed. On yearly basis, it was 4.28 per cent in March 2018.

The data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed that inflation in food basket rose to 0.3 per cent in March from (-) 0.66 per cent in the previous month.

The rate of price rise was also higher in ‘fuel and light’ category. The inflation in the segment rose to 2.42 per cent as against 1.24 per cent in February.
Industrial output growth, on the other hand, was almost flat. Factory output as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had grown by 6.9 per cent in February 2018.

During April-February 2018-19, industrial output grew at 4 per cent as against 4.3 per cent in the same period of the previous fiscal, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).