India’s retail inflation eased to 4.44 per cent in February from 5.07 in January, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) today.
The ease in the inflation number was mostly driven by lower food prices. However, the figure remains higher than the 4 per cent target of the Reserve Bank of India.
In another set of data released by the CSO, the industrial production expanded by 7.5 pc in January compared to 3.5 pc in the same month last year.
The factory production was recorded marginally over the 7.1 per cent in December 2017.
"The General Index for the month of January 2018 stands at 132.3, which is 7.5 per cent higher as compared to the level in the month of January 2017," a CSO release said.
The cumulative Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growth for the April-January period of the current fiscal over the corresponding period of the previous year stood at 4.1 per cent, the CSO said.
Inflation in vegetables was 17.57 per cent last month, down from 26.97 per cent in January), and for fruits it was 4.80 per cent (as against 6.24 per cent).
Milk and its products too were less expensive with inflation print of 4.21 per cent, cereals and products at 2.10 per cent, meat & fish at 3.31 per cent while for eggs the prices grew at a slower pace of 8.51 per cent.
Inflation for the fuel and light category was at 6.80 per cent in February (against 7.73 per cent in January). However, the rate of price increase was higher for transport and communication services at 2.39 per cent (1.97 per cent January).