India's Retail Inflation Drops To 3.54% In July, Dips Below RBI’s 4% Target For First Time In 5 Years

India's retail inflation has eased to 3.54 per cent year-on-year in July, marking a significant drop from the previous month's 5.08 per cent, according to government data released on Monday (August 12).

This is the first time in nearly five years that the inflation rate has dipped below the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) medium-term target of 4 per cent.

Urban Versus Rural: Inflation Rates

The inflation rate in the urban area stood at 2.98 per cent. Meanwhile, on the other hand, the inflation rate at rural areas experienced a slightly higher rate of 4.10 per cent.

Food Inflation at Its Lowest Since June 2023

Breaking down the data further, the the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) reported a year-on-year inflation rate of 5.42 per cent in July 2024, the lowest since June 2023. Furthermore, the rural areas saw a food inflation rate of 5.89 per cent whereas the urban area enjoyed a lower rate of 4.63 per cent.

"The price data are collected from selected 1114 urban Markets and 1181 villages covering all States/UTs through personal visits by field staff of Field Operations Division of NSO, MoSPI on a weekly roster. During the month of July 2024, NSO collected prices from 100 per cent villages and 98.5 per cent urban markets while the market-wise prices reported therein were 88.71 per cent for rural and 92.64 per cent for urban," said in the data released by ministry of statistics and programme implementation.

The upcoming CPI data for August 2024, is scheduled to be released on September 12.