India's retail inflation falls to 2.19% in December
New Delhi, Jan 14 (IBNS): India's retail inflation touched 2.19% in December 2018, official data released on Monday said.
The figures showed it slowed down to touch a 19-month-low point.
It even stood at 2.33% a month ago.
Wholesale inflation eased to 3.80% (provisional) in December from 4.64% in the previous month, recording eight month low, the government said on Monday.
In the corresponding month of the previous year, the wholesale inflation was 3.58%.
The decline in wholesale inflation was attributed to a smaller increase in food and fuel prices.
Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 3.27% compared to a build up rate of 2.21% in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Food inflation stood at - or the rate of increase in food prices - was at 0.07% last month, as against a food deflation of 1.96% in November 2018, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement. Deflation - or negative inflation - determines the rate of decrease in prices.
Inflation in the 'fuel and power' category, which has a weightage of 13.2% on the Wholesale Price Index, nearly halved to 8.38% in December from 16.28% in the previous month. Inflation in petrol, diesel and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) stood 1.57%, 8.61% and 6.87% respectively.
The government will release consumer inflation data later in the day. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mainly takes into account retail inflation data while formulating its monetary policy.
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