New Delhi: Retail inflation rose to 5.37 percent in February, the third consecutive month of uptick, even as industrial output grew by modest 2.6 percent in January.
Growth in industrial production was, however, lower than revised figure of 3.23 percent in December 2014. It is higher than 1.1 percent in January last year, as per data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The improvement in factory output, measured in terms of Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was primarily on better performance by the manufacturing sector which accounts of 75 percent of the index.
Inflation remains a worry with the third straight increase in February due to costlier food items, including vegetables and beverages. Retail inflation measured in terms of Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to three month high of 5.37 percent in February, up from 5.19 percent in January. It had risen to 5 percent in December last year.
