Food inflation rises to 8.7% in April from 8.52% in March

New Delhi: According to official data released on Monday, consumer price index based inflation eased to an 11-month low of 4.83% in April, almost at the same level as 4.85% in March. Consumer food price inflation continued to trend above the headline inflation print at 8.7% in April versus 8.52% in March.

Retail inflation continued to face pressures from costlier food items in April even as core inflation continued to ease and in fact touch its lowest level in the current CPI series.

Retail inflation in the food and beverages basket also rose to 7.87% last month from 7.68% in March. In April, while vegetables became slightly cheaper with CPI inflation at 27.8% compared to 28.34% in March, fruits, cereals, meat and fish became more expensive.

Retail inflation in fruits was at 5.22% in April as against 3.07% in March, in cereals at 8.63% in April versus 8.37% in March. Similarly CPI inflation in April in meat and fish was at 8.17% in April versus 6.36% in March. Significantly, inflation in spices eased to single digits in April 2024 after a gap of 22 months to 7.75% in April.

However, with a heat wave across many parts of the country, analysts expect food prices to remain high in the coming months.

Core inflation has also trended downwards at 3.2%, which is the lowest in the 2012 base CPI series, he noted, adding that if this trend continues, CPI inflation in the first quarter of FY25 may turn out to be marginally lower than RBI’s projection of 4.9%.