Consumer Price Index News

The RBI also announced a 100 basis point cut in the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), from 4 per cent to 3 per cent, to be implemented in four tranches of 25 bps each. 

The RBI has also revised its inflation outlook for 2025-26 downwards from the earlier forecast of 4 per cent to 3.7 per cent, Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Friday. 

The RBI Governor observed that along with robust kharif arrivals, this is expected to set the stage for a durable softening of food inflation. 

Food inflation, a major component of retail inflation, is estimated to have fallen further to 4.66 per cent in February 2025, marking a significant decline.  

The top five items showing the highest year on year Inflation at the All India level in January are coconut oil (54.20 per cent), potato (49.61 per cent), coconut (38.71 per cent), garlic (30.65 per cent), peas [vegetables] (30.17 per cent). 

The RBI during its last policy review slashed the cash reserve ratio (CRR) for banks by 0.5 per cent to make more funds available for lending to spur economic growth but kept the key policy repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent with an eye on inflation. 

Last week, the Reserve Bank revised its inflation forecast for the current fiscal year, raising it to 4.8 per cent from the previous estimate of 4.5 per cent. 

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their buying on December 10, buying equities worth Rs 1,285.96 crore, while domestic institutional investors also bought equities worth Rs 605.79 crore on the same day. 

The Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation rate for September reached 5.49 per cent from 3.65 per cent in August, reflecting an uptick primarily due to higher food prices. 

Moody’s Analytics projected better inflation outcomes, as it reduced India’s inflation forecast to 4.7 per cent from the 5 per cent predicted earlier.  

The ease in inflation for rural labour comes as a welcome sign as it leaves more money in the hands of the workers to improve their living standards. 

However, retail inflation declined to a five-month low of 4.85 per cent in March mainly due to cooling food prices. 

In the international markets, spot gold at Comex was trading at USD 1,993 per ounce, down by USD 2 from the previous close.

Prices of cereals, oil, fats, fruits, beverages as well as clothing and footwear came down in May compared to April.

The retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 5.66 per cent in March 2023 and 7.79 percent in the year-ago period. 

India`s retail inflation rate is expected to remain below RBI`s comfort zone of 6 per cent and will decline materially to 5 per cent by March 2023. For January-March 2023, the average retail inflation is seen at 4.7 per cent. Retail inflation during the month of December was at 5.72 per cent: Govt data.

India retail inflation dips to 5.88%. It is below than RBI's tolerance band. RBI hiked repo rate fourth-time by 35 basis points in recent MPC meeting.

The inflation in the food basket shot up to 7.68 per cent in March 2022. Retail inflation was 5.52 per cent in March 2021. The food inflation stood at 4.87 per cent.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation was 5.03 per cent in February 2021 and 6.01 per cent in January this year. The previous high was 6.26 per cent in June 2021. In the food basket, inflation in cereals moved up to 3.95 per cent; meat and fish to 7.45 per cent.

According to NSO data, inflation in food basket rose to 0.85 per cent in October. The Reserve Bank of India has been tasked by the government to keep it at 4 per cent. The RBI has projected the CPI inflation at 5.3 per cent for 2021-22.