BEIJING - China's retail sales grew 17.2 percent year-on-year to reach 1.65 trillion yuan ($262.6 billion) in October, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

After deducting inflation, actual growth stood at 11.3 percent, the NBS said in a statement on its website.

On a monthly basis, retail sales increased 1.3 percent, according to the statement.

During the first 10 months, the country's retail sales rose 17 percent from one year earlier to hit 14.74 trillion yuan.

Urban retail sales increased 17.2 percent year-on-year to 1.44 trillion yuan last month, while rural retail sales climbed 17.4 percent to 219.1 billion yuan, the NBS said.

In October, the nation's catering sector generated sales of 194.5 billion yuan, a rise of 17.1 percent from a year earlier, while commodities retail sales increased 17.3 percent to 1.46 trillion yuan.

Auto sales rose by 12.6 percent to hit 174.6 billion yuan during the same period, the NBS said.

Sales of home appliances and audiovisual equipment climbed 15.3 percent to 53.4 billion yuan last month, while sales of furniture rose 33.3 percent to 11.8 billion yuan, according to the statement.