India’s retail inflation increased to 7.41% in September up from 7% in August, government data showed in August.

September’s figures were the highest in five months. The price rise indicator was 6.71% in July, 7.01% in June and 7.04% in May.

For nine months now, retail inflation has remained above the upper limit mandated by the Reserve Bank of India. The central bank aims to keep inflation in the range of 2% to 6%.

In September, the food inflation increased to 8.60% from 7.62% in August. The highest price rise was recorded in vegetables (18.05%), followed by spices (16.88%), milk (11.53%) and fruits (5.68%).

The inflation rate for fuel and light declined to 10.39% from 10.78% in August.

Meanwhile, India’s industrial growth, measured by the Index of Industrial Production, contracted to 0.8% in August, data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed. Industrial growth had shown a steep decline of 2.4% in July as against 12.3% in June. The electricity sector grew by 1.4%.