Punjab logs 3.53% inflation, more than double national average

Time of India

2 days ago

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Chandigarh: Even as India's retail inflation eased to a seven-year low of 1.55%, Punjab recorded a much higher price rise at 3.53%, placing it among the costlier states in the country where consumers had to dig deeper into their pockets.
Punjab's divergence from the national trend indicates persistent high prices in key consumption categories, including food and beverages, clothing and footwear, housing, and fuel and light, particularly in rural areas, even as the rest of the country experiences broad relief in household budgets.
Inflation, which refers to the rate at which prices for goods and services rise over time, directly affects consumers' purchasing power.
Without proportionate growth in incomes, rising costs make it increasingly difficult for households to sustain their standard of living.
According to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for July released by the National Statistics Office, the national slowdown in price rise was driven largely by a sharp fall in food inflation, with the all-India Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) dropping to -1.76%, its lowest since Jan 2019.
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Falling prices of pulses, vegetables, cereals, eggs, and sugar contributed to the decline.
Punjab's combined rural and urban CPI inflation of 3.53% was more than double the national average. In comparison, Haryana stood at 1.61% and Himachal Pradesh at 2.21%, both significantly lower than Punjab's rate. In rural Punjab, inflation was 4.12%, above Haryana's 1.72% and Himachal's 2.27%. In urban areas, Punjab's inflation rate was 2.77%, also higher than Haryana's 1.51% and Himachal's 2.18%.
Nationally, Kerala topped the chart with 8.89% inflation, followed by Jammu and Kashmir at 3.77%, Punjab at 3.53%, Karnataka at 2.73%, and Maharashtra at 2.28% among states with over 50 lakh population. The all-India rural inflation rate stood at 1.18% and urban at 2.05%, both sharply down from June's figures. Food inflation was negative in both segments (1.74% in rural and -1.90% in urban India), indicating a broad-based cooling in prices.
The state has seen fluctuating but persistently high inflation in recent months. According to earlier data, the inflation was 4.28% in Jan, 3.55% in Feb, 3.65% in March, 4.09% in April, and a sharp jump to 5.21% in May, followed by a drop to 4.67% in June.
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