NEW DELHI: Kerala recorded the highest retail inflation rate among states and Union territories in June, while Telangana had the lowest rate, the latest inflation data showed. Kerala’s inflation rate was 6.7 per cent during June and it has been recording high inflation rates for some time. Punjab was second on the list of high inflation rates at 4.7 per cent, followed by Jammu & Kashmir at 4.4 per cent.Telangana recorded an inflation rate of -0.9 per cent, followed by Andhra Pradesh with no change and Odisha at 0.5 per cent. Of the 22 states and Union territories for which the data was published, 12 states recorded inflation rates below the overall headline inflation rate of 2.1 per cent.

“State-wise inflation data now reveal a statistically significant trend of convergence. Specifically, states with higher rates of inflation are now converging faster towards the national average. Apart from many other reasons, we believe one of the big long-term structural benefits of GST implementation has been a gradual reduction in the cascading impact of prices across states. This could be one of the reasons for the gradual convergence in state-wise inflation prints over time,” said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic adviser at SBI.