Consumer Price Index (CPI-UNME) at 471 pts for May 2006

New Delhi, June 26 (UNI) Increase in prices of 'Food, Beverages and Tobacco' and 'Fuel&Light' groups propelled the All-India Consumer Price Index for Urban Non-Manual Employees CPI (UNME) for May 2006 to 471 points, higher by six points over that for April 2006.

According to figures released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, at the group level, the index for the month rose by 2.47 per cent in respect of 'Food, Beverages and Tobacco' group followed by 0.56 per cent in the 'Fuel&Light' group.

When compared with the corresponding index for May 2005, the index showed a rise of 5.8 per cent over the year.

Among the four metro cities, Chennai reported higher inflation at 557 points in May against 552 the previous month, followed by Delhi at 483, and Mumbai at 462. Kolkata -- at 428 points -- reported the lowest rise in prices among the four metros last month, up from 408 points in May 2005.

Variation in the index for 59 selected urban centres ranged from 1.7 to 11.1 per cent, with the largest increase being in the case of Imphal. Gangtok centre showed the least increase in prices, according to CSO figures.

Fourteen centres witnessed 7.1 per cent and above increase while at the other end for 4 centres, the hike was less than 4.0 per cent.

The change was between 4.1 and 5.0 per cent for 14 centres and 5.1 to 7.0 per cent for 27 centres.

As many as 27 centres had lower annual percentage increase compared to that of the all-India figure of 5.8 per cent. Three centres had annual percentage increase equal to all-India figure and 29 centres recorded higher percentage increase compared to the all-India average.

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