Rajasthan records highest inflation in August, 13 states higher than the national average
Rajasthan recording the highest inflation rate at 8.6%, easing from 9.7% in the previous month, whereas Delhi had the lowest rate at 3.1%.
However, Rajasthan was not the only state to record high inflation, as three others, Haryana, Telangana and Odisha, also noted 8%+ numbers.
Rajasthan and Telangana are among the five states headed for election later this year.
An ET analysis shows that 13 of 22 states for which data was available recorded a higher number than the national average of 6.8%--a worse situation than last month when 12 states had recorded higher than national average inflation.
Economists indicate that states taking measures to supply subsidized tomatoes had something to do with inflation variances across states.
“Delhi has lowest at 3% with the state taking measures of supplying tomatoes at subsidized prices to the people contributing to this low number,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist, Bank of Baroda.
Further analysis indicates that two of the 22 states recorded an increase in retail prices as inflation declined across the country.
In Assam, inflation rose to 4% in August from 3.9% in July, whereas Punjab witnessed a 0.26 percentage point rise in inflation from last month to 7.34%
The largest decline came for Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar and Rajasthan, as inflation declined a percentage point in these places in August.
The differences in inflation were also visible in rural and urban areas, as rural inflation outpaced urban inflation for the second month in a row.
