Wednesday, 10 Dec, 2025
By: Yash Gupte
The Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) has highly increased to 8.60% in September from 7.62% in August. Image Source: IANS
The consumer price index continued to remain above the 6% mark for the ninth consecutive month as the CPI increased to 7.41% in September
The National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has released the All India Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Base and corresponding Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) for the month of September 2022 on 12th October. The Consumer price inflation increased to 7.41% for the month of September from 7.00% in August. The Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) has highly increased to 8.60% in September from 7.62% in August. This is the second time that CFPI has crossed the 8% mark as it had previously breached the mark in April 2022 when it had reached 8.38%.
The government has mandated the Reserve Bank of India to maintain the retail inflation at 4% with a margin of 2% on either side for a five-year period ending March 2026 but the central bank couldn’t keep this in check as the Consumer price index continued to remain above the 6% mark for the ninth consecutive month as the CPI increased to 7.41% in September. The CPI is heavily weighted by the RBI while formulating its bi-monthly monetary policy. The central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) hiked the repo rate to 5.90% last month in order to tackle the rising inflation. The increase in the repo rate by the Reserve Bank of India can be attributed to the continuously rising consumer price inflation in the country. The commercial banks in India hike the EMIs on loans borrowed by the customers due to the increase in the repo rate by the RBI. The RBI increases the repo rate as a measure of tight monetary policy to counter inflation.
To combat rising inflation, the Monetary Policy Committee has hiked the benchmark interest rate by 140 basis points so far this fiscal year. Nonetheless, despite their action, retail inflation remains above the top tolerance limit. The MPC will hold a meeting at the end of this month and will discuss the measures to keep the inflation in check. The MPC is expected to hike the repo rate.
The Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) also registered a hike in the month of September as it went up from 7.62% in August to 8.60% in September. Prices of different commodities have increased exponentially in last one year and this is the reason behind rise in inflation of food products.
The chart below shows the Consumer price inflation from January to September 2022.
Source: Ministry of Statistics and Programme implementation
The CPI was recorded at the highest at 7.79% in the month of April from January to September 2022. The CPI was at 6.01% in January which quickly increased to 6.95% in March and to 7.79% in April. A downward trend was witnessed after April as the CPI for the month of May dropped to 7.04% and further to 6.71% in July 2022 but August was an exception which broke the trend and witnessed an increase in the CPI from 6.71% in July to 7.00% and it further escalated to 7.41% in September. Coming over to the CFPI, it showed similar trends to CPI. Food price inflation was lowest in January at 5.43%. It increased by 3.0% to be recorded at its highest in April 2022 at 8.38%. The food price inflation began declining after April. From 8.38% in April, it dropped to 6.75% in July but again shot up to 7.62% in August. The CFPI broke the earlier record and reached highest ever in September at 8.60%. The CPI has remained above 6% for the ninth consecutive month. Factors like rise in food prices, domestic fuel price level and pressure on the Indian currency contribute to the rise in inflation.
Source: Ministry of Statistics and Programme implementation
The price of spices has increased by 14.90% in August to 16.88% in September. The highest rate of inflation was recorded in vegetables from 13.23% in August to 18.05% in September followed by spices (16.88%) and cereals and products (11.53%). Spice, vegetables and Cereals are essential commodities and these commodities have recorded the highest rate of inflation. This has caused resentment among people as some sections of the society find these products unaffordable due to the high inflation.
The inflation rate had reached record high in April this year due to the pandemic and recent geopolitical conflict. It cooled off in June and July giving hope of an economic recovery. During the period, the country also witnessed an increase in industrial production. However, other economic indicators like exchange rate, food prices showed marginal or no recovery. This downslide can be seen in the previous month’s inflation rate.
