Retail inflation for farm, rural workers eases marginally in January
Retail inflation for farm workers and rural labourers eased marginally to 7.52 per cent and 7.37 per cent in January as compared to the previous month, mainly due to lower prices of certain food items. In December 2023, Consumer Price Index-Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL) and Consumer Price Index-Rural Labourers (CPI-RL) was 7.71 per cent and 7.46 per cent, respectively.
Food inflation stood at 9.67 per cent and 9.43 per cent last month as compared to 9.95 per cent and 9.80 per cent in December 2023 and 6.61 per cent and 6.47 per cent in the year-ago period, a labour ministry statement said.
In January 2023, CPI-AL was 6.85 per cent and CPI-RL was 6.88 per cent.
The All-India CPI number for AL and RL for January 2024 increased by 1 point each to 1,258 and 1,268 points, respectively. The CPI-AL and CPI-RL were 1,257 and 1,267 points, respectively in December 2023.
The major contribution towards rise in the general index of AL and RL came from miscellaneous groups to the extent of 1.57 and 1.55 points and fuel and light group to the extent of 1.16 and 1.10 points, respectively mainly due to increase in prices of medicines, doctors' fees, barber charges, washing soap, cinema tickets, firewood, etc.
There had been a mixed trend in the indices of constituent states. For both CPI-AL and CPI-RL, ten states experienced a decrease in index while one state saw no change in index.
In the case of AL, it recorded an increase of 1 to 10 points in 9 states, a decrease of 1 to 5 points in 10 states and remained same for 1
