In October, year-on-year growth of India's consumer price Index (retail inflation) - a measure of household expenditure on essential items - jumped to its highest level since May 2014.
Retail inflation jumped to a six-year high of 7.61% in October, mostly due to higher food inflation, a result of costlier vegetables, egg, meat, and fish. Southern and north-eastern cities bore the brunt of the rising vegetable prices in October.
Food items
Retail inflation of most food commodities recorded double-digit growth in October 2020. Vegetables recorded the biggest increase of 22.51% y-o-y in October 2020.
Costly veggies
The maps depict the average retail price of three staple vegetables - onion, potato, and tomato - in October 2020 across various cities. The deeper the red, the costlier. The deeper the green, the cheaper.
Onion
Most cities in the central and northern parts and in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Telangana bought onion at cheaper prices this October. Cities in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Northeast, and Mumbai and Hisar, recorded costlier prices.
Potato
Cities in Kerala and the Northeast bought potatoes at higher prices this October. Cities in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra also recorded moderately higher prices while the rest bought it cheap.