Inflation cost Indians Rs 58,00,00,00,00,000 extra!

Indian households incurred an additional expenditure of whopping Rs 5.8 lakh crore (Rs 5.8 trillion) in the last three years, due to spiralling inflation and dearer food items, says a research report.

"The rise in inflation to 8 per cent per year during 2008-09 to 2010-11, from 5 per cent in the preceding three years eroded the purchasing power of money and inflated the consumption expenditure bill of Indian households by Rs 5.8 lakh crore," research firm Crisil said in a study, Inflation Hurts.

It said that inflation was not uniform and food items saw a much sharper price increase as compared to non-food items during the three-year period.

"Food inflation was at 11.6 per cent during 2008-09 to 2010-11 as compared to non-food inflation of 5.7 per cent," Crisil said.