Roti, kapda, makaan inflation stays sticky

Roti, kapda, makaan inflation is sticky

India’s inflation eased a slight bit to 5.5 percent in November compared with 6.2 percent in the previous month, according to data released by the government on December 12.

While inflation has eased from a 14-month high of 6.2 percent, it was still above the 5-percent mark for a third consecutive month.

More important, a Moneycontrol analysis shows that the roti (food), kapda (clothing) and makaan (housing) inflation was higher sequentially, even as the pace of growth slowed a tad bit.

In the case of cereals, while annual rates were unchanged at 6.9 percent, sequentially prices were 0.9 percent higher than in October.

Milk prices were flat compared with the previous year, but oil and products inflation rose 3.1 percent compared with 6 percent in the previous month.

While vegetable prices have eased sequentially, falling 1 percent from the previous month, data shows that annual inflation rates remain high, around 30 percent.

Annual rates for inflation were lower for housing and clothing, but analysis shows a slight uptick from October.

Housing inflation was up 0.2 percent in November from the previous month.

Clothing and footwear inflation was 2.7 percent in November, unchanged from the previous month, but sequentially prices were 0.3 percent higher.

In fact, of the 23 categories of inflation, 16 witnessed an increase in prices while 23 registered a drop.

Sequentially, inflation was down 0.2 percent compared with the previous year.

Among the 299 items tracked by CPI, 206 items had recorded inflation over the previous month, while prices had declined for 63 items compared with the previous month. Nearly a tenth of items had sequential inflation higher than 1.