New Delhi: Retail inflation breached the upper tolerance limit of 6 per cent set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to hit 6.09 per cent in October for the first time since two years, mainly because of costlier food items, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Thursday.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based headline retail inflation was 5.54 per cent in September, meaning the October reading represented a 55-basis-point increase. In October 2024, it was at 6.25 per cent.
The central bank's inflation-targeting framework mandates maintaining CPI inflation at 4 per cent, with a tolerance band of 2 per cent to 6 per cent.
Rising food inflation
Food inflation spiked to 8.94 per cent in October 2026 from 7.74 per cent in the previous month, according to the data released by the Ministry.
The top food items with high inflation were onion (116.22 per cent), garlic (60.74 per cent), ginger (48.32 per cent) and lemon (47.30 per cent).
Supply-side pressures, including depletion of stored onion stocks and uneven rainfall affecting the arrival of fresh kharif crops, have contributed to the increase in food prices, according to the RBI's assessment of recent inflation trends.
Rural food inflation stood at 9.09 per cent, while urban food inflation was recorded at 8.68 per cent.
At the national level, inflation in the food and beverages category stood at 8.51 per cent. Personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services recorded inflation of 10.14 per cent, while restaurants and accommodation services saw a rise of 10.06 per cent.
Key RBI meeting in December
The October retail inflation is a key data point before the December 2-4 meeting of the RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
The RBI had in October hiked the benchmark policy rate by 0.25 per cent to 5.50 per cent - its first hike in nearly four years, while signalling that further rate hikes could follow amid rising inflation, a weak rupee and high crude oil prices.
(With inputs from PTI & ANI)
