India's retail inflation falls to a 10-month low of 4.85% in March

Amidst cooling food prices, consumers experienced relief from inflationary pressures, contributing to a more favorable economic outlook for the month of March.Recently in the report related to retail inflation that declined to a 10-month low of 4.85 per cent in March published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on, Friday April 12,underscores  a promising trajectory for India's economic landscape.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation ,also called retail inflation was 5.09 percent in February.At 4.85 percent, the latest headline retail inflation figure is the lowest since May 2023 when it came in at 4.31 percent. The March figure was also slightly lower than expectations, with economists having predicted prices likely to have eased to 4.91 percent compared to a month ago.The latest inflation data comes a week after the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on April 5 announced the decision to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.5 percent for the seventh consecutive time.According to the central bank's latest forecast, CPI inflation is seen at 4.5 percent for the current financial year, stated report.

( Ira Singh, Asstt Editor, Gandhinagar)