‘South has more immigration from poorer states’

• Labour migration from low-income to high-income states in search of employment leads to higher ination in richer South states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• Southern states show higher trends in retail prices for items like vegetables, cereals, and pulses.
• North-east and western regions have the lowest ination trends, while southern and eastern regions show higher inationary trends.
• Post-pandemic, ination declined by 3.4% in the North-east, while in the South, it declined by only 2.6%.
• Higher taxes levied on petrol/diesel, liquor, and registration charges in southern states could be the driver of higher inations.
• Kerala clocked the highest ination rate of 7.3% in February, followed by Chhattisgarh 4.9%.
• Rural ination is higher in nine major states, while urban ination is higher in eight states.
• SBI predicts a slowdown in CPI ination to 3.9% in Q4 FY25 and an average 4.7% in FY25.