The headline retail inflation for May eased to the lowest in a year at 4.75%, data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed on Wednesday.

The corresponding inflation rates for rural and urban areas are 5.28 and 4.15%, respectively.

All India inflation based on General CPI is lowest for the month of May 2024 after May 2023. It is less than 6% since September 2023, the government data said.

Notably, last month in April, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation in April was at 4.83%, the lowest after May 2023.

The data released by the ministry said in May, the ‘Spices’ have shown a considerable decline at a sub-group level in year-on-year inflation as compared to April 2024.

Among the groups, inflation corresponding to ‘Clothing & Footwear’, ‘Housing’, and ‘Miscellaneous’ has decreased since last month.

However, the Consumer Price Food Index or CPFI remained almost flat at 8.69% versus 8.7% a month ago.

It is to be highlighted that in its latest policy review, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained its FY25 inflation projection of 4.5% but added that food prices could continue to be sticky.

The MoSPI also released the Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

It said the growth rate for the month of April 2024 over the corresponding period of the previous year is 5% as compared to the IIP growth rate in April 2023 at 4.6%.

The growth rates of the three sectors, Mining, Manufacturing, and Electricity for the month of April 2024 over April 2023 are 6.7%, 3.9%, and 10.2% respectively, the government data said.

Within the manufacturing sector, the growth rate of the top three positive contributors to the growth of IIP for the month of April 2024 is – “Manufacture of basic metals” (8.1%), “Manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products” (4.9%), and “Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers, and semi-trailers” (11.4%).

Further, the data said the corresponding growth rates of IIP as per Use-based classification in April 2024 over April 2023 are 7% in Primary goods, 3.1% in Capital goods, 3.2% in Intermediate goods, 8% in Infrastructure/ Construction Goods, 9.8% in Consumer durables and -2.4% in Consumer non-durables.

Based on the use-based classification, the top three positive contributors to the growth of IIP for the month of April 2024 are – Primary goods, Infrastructure/Construction goods, and Consumer durables.