Bhubaneswar: Rural households in Odisha are facing greater price pressures than their urban counterparts, with retail inflation in the state reaching 7.17 per cent in October, well above the national average of 6.09 per cent, according to official data released on Thursday.
Odisha recorded the fifth-highest retail inflation among states with a population of more than 50 lakh, trailing Tamil Nadu (7.29 per cent), Telangana (7.26 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (7.25 per cent) and Maharashtra (7.19 per cent), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed.
The data indicate that rural areas are bearing the brunt of rising prices, with inflation in rural Odisha standing at 7.74 per cent in October, compared with 5.63 per cent in urban areas. The difference of 2.11 percentage points highlights the greater inflationary pressure on rural households.
The state’s combined Consumer Price Index stood at 110.28 in October, while the rural and urban indices were recorded at 110.93 and 108.51, respectively.
At the national level, retail inflation rose to 6.09 per cent in October from 5.54 per cent in September. Rural inflation increased from 6.08 per cent to 6.63 per cent, while urban inflation climbed from 4.88 per cent to 5.41 per cent.
Odisha’s combined inflation rate was 1.08 percentage points higher than the national average, underscoring the relatively greater price pressures faced by consumers in the state.
Food prices continued to remain a major concern across the country, with inflation based on the All-India Consumer Food Price Index rising to 8.94 per cent in October from 7.74 per cent in September.
Rural food inflation stood at 9.09 per cent, while urban food inflation was recorded at 8.68 per cent, according to the report.
Among individual commodities at the all-India level, onion recorded the highest inflation at 116.22 per cent, followed by garlic at 60.74 per cent, silver jewellery at 52.39 per cent, ginger at 48.32 per cent and lemon at 47.30 per cent.
In contrast, potato prices recorded negative inflation of 14.24 per cent, while cauliflower registered negative inflation of 10.57 per cent.
The report also showed that inflation in the personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services category stood at 10.14 per cent. Restaurants and accommodation services recorded inflation of 10.06 per cent.
The CPI report for October was released on November 12 by the NSO under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
