Retail inflation inches up to 4.87% in May on costlier food; industrial output grows 4.9% in April

New Delhi: Retail inflation inched up to 4.87 percent in May on an increase in the prices of certain items in the food basket, as per government data released on Tuesday. Based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), inflation was at 4.58 percent in the preceding month of April. In May last year, it was 2.18 percent. As per data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), food inflation rose to 3.10 percent last month, as against 2.8 percent in April. [caption id=“attachment_4258303” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image.. AFP.[/caption] The price data is collected from selected towns by the Field Operations Division of the NSSO and from selected villages by the Department of Posts. The data is received through web portals, maintained by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). Industrial growth rises by 4.9 percent in April Meanwhile, industrial output expanded by 4.9 percent in April this year, spurred by higher growth in the manufacturing and mining sectors. The industrial growth, measured on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was 3.2 percent in April last year. In March this year, industrial production had grown at 4.4 percent. As per data released by the CSO, the manufacturing sector, which constitutes more than 77 percent of the index, recorded a growth of 5.2 percent in April, up from 2.9 percent in the year ago month. The mining sector too expanded by 5.1 percent, up from three percent in April 2017. The growth in power generation however slipped to 2.1 percent in April this year, from 5.4 percent in the year-ago month.