Retail price inflation grew continuously for the third straight month in November. On the back of rising food prices the Consumer Price Index (CPI) grew at the rate of 11.24 percent last month, hitting its highest level since it was constituted in January 2011.
Among the food articles, the vegetables basket recorded the steepest price rise at 61.6 percent against 45.7 percent in October, according to official data released by the Central Statistics Office on Thursday.
“We are very uncomfortable with the current level of inflation,” Reserve Bank Goveror Raghuram Rajan told reporters in Kolkata after the data was released. “We are aware of the weak economy, but we also have to take into account inflationary pressures.”
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The data released shows that the provisional inflation rates were 11.74 percent for rural areas and 10.5 percent for urban areas for the month of November.
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had said on Wednesday at the Delhi Economic Conclave: “It is common knowledge that the Government of the day will pay a price for high inflation, especially if inflation persists over a long period of time”. “I think it is necessary to highlight the inaction of the State Governments ... even while accepting that the Central Government must do all it can, within its powers, to moderate inflation”.