Retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) for agricultural labourers rose to 12.7 per cent in May from 12.32 per cent in April, due to rise in the prices of food items and fuel, an official release said.
Similarly, for rural labourers, it increased to 12.5 per cent in May from 12.15 per cent in April.
“Point to point rate of inflation based on the CPI-AL and CPI-RL increased from 12.32 per cent and 12.15 per cent in April to 12.70 per cent and 12.50 per cent in May this year,” the release said.
The Inflation based on food index of Consumer Price Index-Agriculture Labour (CPI-AL) and Consumer Price Index-Rural Labour (CPI-RL) are 13.37 per cent and 13.14 per cent, respectively in May, it said.
According to the statement, West Bengal registered the maximum increase of 19 and 20 points, respectively for farm and rural workers, mainly due to increase in the prices of rice, wheat, meat goat, fish fresh, ginger, vegetables and fruits, gur, bidi, firewood, shirting cloth cotton (mill) and plastic shoes.
On the other hand, Bihar registered a decline of 11 points and 10 points, respectively for CPI-AL and CPI-RL due to decrease in the prices of rice, wheat/wheat atta, maize, onion and vegetable and fruits.
The consumer price index for farm and rural workers in May increased by 8 points and 9 points, respectively to stand at 719 points (CPI-AL) and 720 points (CPI-RL).
The rise or fall in index varied from state to state.
The index for farm workers recorded an increase which varied between 3 to 19 points in 19 states and a decrease of 11 points in one state.
Karnataka with 792 points topped the index table whereas Himachal Pradesh with an index level of 560 points stood at the bottom.
On the other hand, the retail inflation index for farm workers recorded an increase between 2 to 20 points in 19 states and a decrease of 10 points in one state.
Karnataka with 789 points topped the index table whereas Himachal Pradesh and Tripura with the index level of 592 points each stood at the bottom.