Retail inflation hits 5-month high of 3.81% in March; IIP dips 1.2% in February

New Delhi: Retail inflation jumped to 5-month high of 3.81 percent in March on costlier protein items, edible oils and non-food products like fuel and light. Inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) was at 3.65 percent in February. Protein rich items such as milk & products and eggs were costlier during the month with inflation prints of 5.13 percent and 2.96 percent respectively. Prepared meals, snacks and sweets prices were also high as prices grew by 6.13 percent. [caption id=“attachment_2955134” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP[/caption] However, vegetables continued to remain in the negative zone with deflation of (-)8.57 percent in March 2017, as per the data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Overall, food inflation was at 1.85 percent as against 2.01 percent in February. For fuel and light category, inflation rose to 5.75 percent for the month. Meanwhile, industrial output slipped to 4-month low, contracting 1.2 percent in February, mainly on account on decline in the manufacturing sector and lower offtake of capital as well as consumer goods. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had registered a growth of 1.99 percent in February last year. For the 11 month period to February of the last financial year, IIP growth was nearly flat at 0.4 percent as against 2.6 percent a year ago. For January, the Central Statistics Office has revised the IIP growth rate to 3.27 percent from 2.74 percent in the provisional data released last month. The previous low was recorded in October when the IIP contracted by 1.87 percent. Thereafter, it shot up to 5.59 percent in November. The decline in the IIP in February is mainly on account of 2 percent contraction in manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 percent of the index. The sector had recorded a meagre growth of 0.6 percent in February, 2016. The capital goods output declined by 3.4 percent in February over a contraction of 9.3 percent last year. Similarly, the overall consumer goods production declined by 5.6 percent in the month compared to a growth of 0.6 percent. The non-durable consumer goods output shrank by 8.6 percent in the month over a contraction of 4.9 percent year ago. In the consumer-durable segment, the output dipped by 0.9 percent in February against a growth of 10.4 percent in same month last year. Overall, 15 out of 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown negative growth in February.