India's retail Inflation surges to 5.5 per cent in November, driven by sharp rise in food prices

Retail inflation, measured by consumer price index (CPI) surged to 5.5 per cent in November on an annual basis as against a four-month low of 4.87 per cent in October,showed data released by the National Statistical Office on Tuesday.

The number has remained within the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) tolerance band of 2-6 per cent. However, it has now been above the medium-term target of 4 per cent for 50 consecutive months.

The food inflation for November stood at 8.70 per cent.

In November, vegetable inflation registered a rate of 17.7 per cent, while the inflation for fuel and light experienced a contraction of (-)0.77 per cent.

The inflation rates in rural and urban areas recorded a respective increase to 5.85 per cent and 5.26 per cent, compared to 4.62 per cent and 5.12 per cent observed in the corresponding month of the previous year.

In the December policy meeting, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) opted to maintain the inflation target at 5.4 per cent. This decision followed the August policy meeting where the RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had revised its inflation projection for FY24 upward from 5.1 per cent to 5.4 per cent.