Rajasthan Tops List Of States With Retail Inflation Above National Average

Retail inflation declined to a three-month low of 5.02 per cent in September, mainly due to easing food prices, the government said today. The inflation is below the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) comfort level of under 6 per cent after two months.

Some of the states with the highest inflation above the national average include Rajasthan (6.53 per cent), Haryana (6.49 per cent), Karnataka (6 per cent), Telangana (5.97 per cent) and Odisha (5.87 per cent).

The data shows Rajasthan tops the list of states with the highest inflation. The Congress is in power in Rajasthan, where the assembly election will be held next month.

Haryana, where the BJP is the ruling party, comes second at 6.49 per cent, while the BJP is not in power in the three other states - Karnataka, Telangana and Odisha - where high inflation was recorded. So four out of five states where inflation is high have non-BJP governments, data shows.

The inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI) was 6.83 per cent in August and 7.41 per cent in September 2022. The previous low was in June this year when it stood at 4.87 per cent.

According to the data released by the National Statistical Office, the inflation in the food basket decreased to 6.56 per cent in September from 9.94 per cent in the preceding month.

The RBI mainly factors in retail inflation while arriving at its bi-monthly monetary policy.