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The labour ministry has said that retail inflation for industrial workers eased marginally to 4.91 per cent in December 2023 from 4.98 per cent in November 2023, mainly due to lower prices of certain food items. It stated food inflation stood at 8.18 per cent (in December 2023) against 7.95 per cent of the previous month (November 2023) and 4.10 per cent during the corresponding month (of December 2022) a year ago.

It stated the year-on-year inflation for the month (December 2023) stood at 4.91 per cent compared to 4.98 per cent in the previous month (November 2023) and 5.50 per cent (December 2022) in the year-ago period. The All-India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) for December 2023 decreased by 0.3 points and stood at 138.8 points. It was 139.1 in November last year.

On one-month percentage change, it decreased by 0.22 per cent with respect to the previous month compared to a contraction of 0.15 per cent a year ago. The maximum downward pressure in the current index came from the Food & Beverages group, contributing 0.45 percentage points to the total change. At the item level, Rice, Poultry/Chicken, Mustard Oil, Apple, Banana, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Capsicum, Carrot, French Beans, Green Coriander Leaves, Ginger, Onion, Potato, Tomato, Peas, Radish, Electricity Charges (Domestic), etc. are responsible for the fall in the index .