If you stay on rent anywhere in Andhra Pradesh and feel your wallet shrinking a bit more every passing month, you could well be correct, according to the latest statistics. At 125.2 index points, the state’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for housing for June this year was the highest when compared to all other Indian states, with an inflation of 6.19 per cent in the first six months of this year.
This rate of increase is also extremely high, second only to Sikkim’s 6.6 per cent rise. The all-India increase was a little over 4 per cent according to the CPI data released recently by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation. The housing index includes rentals paid by tenants and charges incurred on water, repairs and maintenance. It does not include electricity and sweeper charges. The base year, with CPI 100, is taken as November-December 2010.
The CPI for housing in AP rose from 117.9 in January this year to 125.2 in June. Although the housing index has steadily climbed to the top, from being fourth highest in January, the CPI for clothing, bedding and footwear in urban areas of the state has been the highest throughout the year. It went up from 129.7 in January to 138.2 last month — an increase of 6.5 per cent. Among other southern states, Karnataka registered an inflation of just 2.9 per cent in housing from January to June this year, while it was 5.26 per cent in Tamil Nadu and 3.2 per cent in Kerala. Elsewhere, Maharashtra saw an increase of 3.89 per cent inflation in housing, while the January-June figure for Delhi was 3.67 per cent.
Housing inflation in AP has been 9.15 per cent since November last year. During the same period, it was 6.36 per cent in Tamil Nadu, and 9.3 per cent in Sikkim, the highest in the country. State-wise figures were not available for some months of last year to measure the annual inflation in housing.