Consumer price inflation for rural areas has consistently been higher than urban inflation since January this year (barring May).
If it continues to remain sticky and high—especially food inflation—it will hurt rural demand.
In November, the bottom 20% in terms of household income faced effectively higher inflation, at 6.2%, than the top 20% as food and fuel price-rise reigned higher than that for core items across rural India.
Essential items such as food and fuel occupy a greater share in the consumption basket of the lower-income classes. Real rural wage growth has been contracting since December last year.