India's Consumer Inflation spiked to 7.34 per cent in September

India's consumer inflation spiked to 7.34 per cent in September from 6.69 per cent in August, as food prices continued to surge, official data showed on Monday. The inflation recorded in September is quite more than the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) inflation target range of 2-6 per cent.

This marks the highest level of inflation recorded since January 2020, according to NDTV.

India had recorded retail price inflation of over 3 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.

As per the data furnished by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Consumer Price Index (CPI), Urban rose to 7.26 per cent in September from 6.80 per cent in August. The CPI Rural increased to 7.43 per cent last month from 6.66 per cent in August.

Besides, the data showed that India's consumer food price index (CFPI) during the month under review rose to 10.68 per cent against 9.05 per cent reported for August 2020. The CFPI readings measure changes in retail prices of food products. "During the month of September 2020, NSO [National Statistics Office] collected prices from 98 per cent villages and 97.8 per cent urban markets while the prices reported therein were 83.0 per cent for rural and 87.9 per cent for urban," said the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

The data assumes significance as the Reserve Bank of India, in its last monetary policy review, maintaining the key lending rates on account of elevated retail inflation.