Retail inflation softens to 6.71% in July 2022: NSO DataAccording to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI), Retail inflation softened to 6.71% in July 2022 due to moderation in food prices.
- However, it remained above the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) comfort level of 6% for the 7th consecutive month.
Key Points:
i.The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation was at 7.01% in June 2022 and 5.59% in July 2021. It was above 7% from April to June FY22.
- In Urban areas, the CPI Inflation rate lowered to 6.49% in July 2022 from 6.86% in June 2022.
ii.Food inflation in July moderated to 6.75% as against 7.75% in June 2022.
iii.The government has mandated the central bank to keep retail inflation at 4%, with a tolerance level of plus or minus 2% of that rate, which is 2-6 per cent.
iv.Industrial production rose 12.3% in June 2022 as compared with a 19.6% increase in May 2021.
v.Exports during April-July 2022-23 rose by 20.13% to USD 157.44 billion. While Imports during the four months increased by 48.12% to USD 256.43 billion.
- India’s exports rose by 2.14 per cent to USD 36.27 billion in July while the trade deficit almost tripled to USD 30 billion during the month due to over 70 per cent rise in crude oil imports.
- Imports shot up by 43.61% to USD 66.27 billion in July 2022 as compared to July 2021.
vi.The trade deficit stood at record USD 30 billion in July 2022.
vii.The estimated value of services export for July 2022 is USD 24.91 billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 28.69% year-on-year. Imports are estimated at USD 15.95 billion, a growth of 40.02%.
viii.The index grew 12.7 per cent April-June 2022 compared to a growth of 44.4 per cent in the same period a year ago