The share of food inflation in the total consumer price basket is about half. (file)
New Delhi:
India’s consumer price index (CPI) based inflation eased to 5.6 per cent from 6.4 per cent in February, government data showed today.
The CPI tracks changes in the retail prices of goods and services that households buy for their daily uses.
The RBI has a mandate to keep inflation at 4 per cent, with a margin of 2 per cent on either side.
Retail inflation eased marginally in February, remaining above the RBI’s upper tolerance limit of 6 per cent for the second month in a row.
The retail inflation data for March comes less than a week after the RBI surprised markets and analysts by keeping its key lending rate or repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent.
“This is a pause, not a pivot,” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das told a media conference after the monetary policy announcement.
To control rising prices, the RBI has increased the repo rate by 250 basis points since May last year.
While the central bank in its monetary policy statement projected retail inflation to ease to 5.2 per cent in the current fiscal, the RBI governor said the inflation outlook remains dynamic amid the recent rise in crude oil prices.