Retail inflation for industrial workers rose marginally to 5.5 per cent in December 2022 from 5.41 per cent in November due to higher prices of certain food items.

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"Year-on-year inflation for the month stood at 5.50 per cent compared to 5.41 percent for the previous month (November 2022) and 5.56 percent during the corresponding month (December 2021) a year before," a labour bureau statement said.

Similarly, it stated that the food inflation stood at 4.10 percent against 4.30 percent in the previous month and 5.93 percent during the corresponding month a year ago.

The All-India CPI-IW (consumer price index for industrial workers) for December 2022 decreased by 0.2 points and stood at 132.3 points. It was 132.5 points in November 2022.

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On one-month percentage change, it decreased by 0.15 percent with respect to the previous month compared to a decrease of 0.24 percent recorded between corresponding months a year ago.

The maximum downward pressure in the current index came from Food and Beverages group, contributing 0.52 percentage points to the total change.

At the item level, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brinjal, Carrot, Onion, Potato, Tomato, Peas, Garlic, Chilies Green, Apple, Orange, Sunflower Oil, Vanaspati Oil and Poultry/Chicken etc. are responsible for the fall in the index.

However, this decrease was checked by Rice, Wheat Atta, Wheat, Cow Milk, Fish Fresh, Egg-Hen, Drum stick, Chilies Dry, Cumin Seed/Jira, Turmeric, Tea Leaf, Cooked Meals, ESI Contribution, Medicine Allopathic and Tuition and other fees school/ITI etc. putting upward pressure on the index.

At the centre level, Lucknow and Nasik recorded a maximum decrease of 1.9 points each.

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Among others, 19 centres recorded a decrease between 1 to 1.8 points and 37 centres between 0.1 to 0.9 points. On the contrary, Faridabad recorded a maximum increase of 3.3 points followed by Nagpur and Tirunelveli with 3.0 and 2.4 points, respectively.

Among others, 4 centres recorded an increase between 1 to 1.7 points and 21 centres between 0.1 to 0.9 points. The rest of the 2 centres’ indices remained stationary.

The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, has been compiling Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers every month on the basis of retail prices collected from 317 markets, spread over 88 industrially important centres in the country.

The index is compiled for 88 centres and All-India and is released on the last working day of the succeeding month.

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