Retail inflation eased marginally to 6.44 per cent in February mainly due to a marginal decline in prices of food and fuel articles, according to government data released on Monday.
The rate of inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 6.52 per cent in January and 6.07 per cent in February 2022.
Inflation for the food basket stood at 5.95 per cent in February, down from 6 per cent in January.
Retail inflation has remained above the RBI’s upper tolerance level of 6 per cent since January 2022, except for November and December 2022.
The Reserve Bank has projected retail inflation at 6.5 per cent for 2022-23, with 5.7 per cent in the January-December quarter.
The central bank is mandated by the government to ensure that retail inflation remains at 4 percent with a margin of 2 percent on either side.
To contain rising prices, the RBI has hiked interest rates by 250 basis points since May last year. The latest rate hike of 25 basis points took the benchmark policy rate to 6.50 per cent in February.
(with PTI inputs)
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