Retail inflation eases to 3.6% in February, industrial production grew 5% in January
Retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) dipped to 3.61 per cent in January, Government data showed on Wednesday. This is the lowest after July 2024. Meanwhile, industrial growth based on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) accelearated to 5 per cent in January.
Retail inflation was 4.3 per cent in January. “There is decline of 65 basis points in headline inflation of February, 2025 in comparison to January, 2025,” a statement by Statistics Ministry said. With inflation going below 4 per cent, one more instalment of policy interest rate cut is near certain, when the Monetary Policy Committee will meet next month.
The statement further said that year-on-year inflation rate based on All India Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) for the month of February, 2025 over February, 2024 is 3.75 per cent (Provisional). Corresponding inflation rate for rural and urban are 4.06 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively.
“A sharp decline of 222 basis point is observed in food inflation in February, 2025 in comparison to January, 2025. The food inflation in February, 2025 is the lowest after May, 2023,” the statement said.
Industrial growth
The industrial growth for the month of January 2025 is 5 per cent as against 3.2 percent in the month of December 2024. The growth rates of the three sectors, Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity for the month of January 2025 are 4.4 per cent, 5.5 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively.
Within the manufacturing sector, 19 out of 23 industry groups at NIC 2 digit-level have recorded a positive growth in January 2025 over January 2024. The top three positive contributors for the month of January 2025 are – “Manufacture of basic metals” (6.3 per cent), “Manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products” (8.5 per cent) and “Manufacture of electrical equipment” (21.7 per cent).
The corresponding growth rates of IIP as per Use-based classification in January 2025 over January 2024 are 5.5 per cent in Primary goods, 7.8 per cent in Capital goods, 5.2 per cent in Intermediate goods, 7.0 per cent in Infrastructure/ Construction Goods, 7.2 per cent in Consumer durables and (-)0.2 per cent in Consumer non-durables (Statement III). Based on use-based classification, top three positive contributors to the growth of IIP for the month of January 2025 are – Primary goods, Infrastructure/ construction goods and Intermediate goods.
