India's retail inflation rose to 5.03 per cent in February, mainly on account of higher food prices, according to the government data released on Friday. The consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation was 4.06 per cent in January 2021 and was 6.58 per cent in February 2020. Food inflation rose steeply to 3.87 per cent in February, compared to 1.89 per cent in the previous month. The core inflation, which measures growth in the consumer price index after removing the food and fuel components stood at 5.8 per cent as against 5.7 per cent in the previous month. Meanwhile, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) contracted 1.6 per cent for January 2021, according to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).