If you think it is only urban areas which are facing the heat of inflation, think again. In the seven months of 2012, inflation in rural areas of the state was higher than in their urban counterparts. Also, price rise in rural Andhra Pradesh has been the steepest among the four southern states. Rural AP saw an inflation of 6.58 per cent between January and July this year as compared to a considerably lower 6.39 per cent in urban areas during the same period according to the Consumer Price Index numbers released recently by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation for July 2012.
Among the four southern states, Andhra Pradesh had the highest rural inflation from January to July. Among the other three states, Tamil Nadu recorded a rural inflation of 6.06 per cent while in Karnataka, it was 5.5 per cent. Rural hamlets of Kerala saw an inflation of a meagre 3.6 per cent. Inflation in food, beverages and tobacco index in rural AP was also the highest among the four southern states. Food inflation in the rural parts of the state stood at 8.7 per cent in the first seven months of the year, while rural Tamil Nadu recorded a food inflation of 6.5 per cent. In Karnataka, it was 6.3 per cent while in rural Kerala again, food inflation was the