Industry Odisha Bureau, Jul 21: India’s rural inflation rise reportedly crossed the 4 per cent mid-point target of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the first time in June this year that climbed up to 4.74 per cent, while the urban inflation rise comparatively stood at 3.92 per cent.
In this context, experts have reportedly viewed that, “Rural inflation usually runs higher when food prices go up since food plays a pivotal role in rural consumption basket. Besides the rise in food prices, the West Asia crisis has also added to the woes of the rural consumers due to the rise in the prices of fuel and LPG/cooking gas cylinders.”
Experts also reportedly apprehended that, “The forecast of below-normal monsoon this year due to the impact of El Nino would further aggravate the food inflation. While the Kharif season is already on, June has already recorded a rainfall deficit of 40 per cent. According to latest data, nearly 80 per cent of India’s agricultural areas have received deficient rainfall by July 15.”
Inflation data of the last 12 years reportedly reflected that, “India experienced two strong El Nino years in 2015-16 and 2023-24 following which the country recorded 5.57 per cent and 5.56 per cent rural inflation resepectively.”
As per media reports, “The Kharif sowing has already got affected in several regions of India as the current position remains 6 per cent lower than the agricultural areas sown last year by this time, and that is anticipated to pave path for pushing the food prices up.”
