Page 538 - ES 2020-21_Volume-1-2 [28-01-21]

Prices and Inflation 165

Nov-20 dec-20
Description Weight 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21# Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 (P) (P)
Food Index 24.4 0.6 6.9 4.2 4.7 4.8 7.2 6.2 4.3 0.9
Food articles 15.3 0.3 8.4 3.9 4.5 4.4 8.4 7.1 3.9 –1.1
Cereals 2.8 5.5 7.5 –1.4 0.7 –1.6 –3.7 –5.2 –5.5 –6.5
Pulses 0.6 –9.4 15.9 12.1 10.2 9.9 12.5 16.1 13.0 9.7
Vegetables 1.9 –8.4 31.2 7.1 8.2 7.2 38.1 26.7 12.2 –13.2
Fruits 1.6 –1.7 3.2 –1.3 –3.0 –0.3 –4.6 –4.3 –3.8 1.4
Milk 4.4 2.4 2.5 5.1 4.7 4.4 5.6 5.7 5.5 3.9
Egg, meat & fish 2.4 1.7 6.5 3.4 5.3 6.2 4.1 4.2 0.6 1.4
Food products 9.1 0.9 4.1 5.0 5.0 5.5 4.9 4.4 4.9 4.9
Vegetable and
animal oils and fats 2.6 7.5 1.4 17.3 15.9 17.7 18.7 20.6 23.2 21.8
Sugar 1.1 –10.7 3.9 0.1 3.3 0.5 –0.8 –1.5 –0.8 –0.3
Fuel & power 13.2 11.6 –1.8 –12.2 –9.8 –9.1 –8.6 –11.1 –9.9 –8.7
Non–Food
manufactured 55.1 4.2 –0.4 0.8 –0.2 0.6 1.3 1.8 2.6 4.1
products (Core)
Source: Office of the Economic Adviser, DPIIT.
Note: P: Provisional, #April to December 2020.
5.4 The rural-urban difference in CPI inflation, which was high in 2019, saw a decline in 2020.
From July 2018 to December 2019, CPI-Urban inflation was consistently above CPI-Rural
inflation, mainly on account of the differential rates of food inflation between rural and urban
areas witnessed during this period. However, in the current year, CPI-Urban inflation has moved
closely with CPI-Rural inflation (Figure 4). Although food inflation in rural and urban areas
has almost converged now (Figure 5), divergence in rural-urban inflation is observed in other
components of CPI (Figure 6). Inflation in non-food components of CPI is higher in urban areas
as compared to rural areas in the current year. While fuel & light inflation is (-) 0.1 per cent in
rural areas, it is 6.7 per cent in urban areas. The rural-urban differential in other components is in
the range of 1.6 to 2.3 percentage points, except housing, which is not compiled for rural areas.
Figure 4: CPI Rural and Urban inflation

Source: NSO.