India’s retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose to 5.52 per cent in March 2021. It had stood at 5.03 per cent in February 2021. At the same time, India’s industrial production contracted by 3.6 per cent in February, according to official data released on Monday.
According to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), manufacturing sector output declined by 3.7 per cent in February 2021.
Analysts in a Reuters poll had predicted annual inflation at 5.40% for the month.
Mining output slipped 5.5 per cent, while power generation grew by 0.1 per cent in February.
The IIP had grown by 5.2 per cent in February 2020.
During April-February, IIP contracted by 11.3 per cent compared to one per cent growth in the corresponding period of 2019-20.
Industrial production has been hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic since March last year when it contracted by 18.7 per cent.