First, from June till November 2020 when the surge in inflation was trigged by a series of adverse transitory supply side shocks ranging from increase in retail margins in food items; supply chain and logistics bottlenecks; unseasonal rains and resultant crop damage; and the domestic spillovers from the sharp rise in international prices of edible oils.
In the following period, that is from December 2020 to April 2021, inflation moved closer to the target rate of 4 per cent as much of the transitory price shocks waned. The easing of inflationary pressures, however, was short-lived as India experienced a devastating second wave of COVID-19 during April-June 2021 which triggered localised lockdowns, renewed supply chain disruptions and rising retail margins.