New Delhi: Retail inflation fell to an 18-month low of 4.7 percent in April mainly due to cooling food prices, government data showed on Friday. It was for the second month in a row that Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation remained within the RBI’s comfort zone of below 6 percent.
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. Retail inflation in April is the lowest since October 2021 when it was at 4.48 percent.
According to the National Statistical Office, the inflation in the food basket was 3.84 percent in April, as against 4.79 percent in March and 8.31 percent in the year-ago period.
Retail inflation rose from 5.7 per cent in December 2022 to 6.4 per cent in February 2023 on the back of higher prices of cereals, milk, and fruits and slower deflation in vegetable prices.
Reserve Bank of India has projected the CPI inflation at 5.2 percent for FY2023-24, with 5.1 percent in Q1, 5.4 percent in Q2, 5.4 percent in Q3, and 5.2 percent in Q4, and risks evenly balanced.
Source: PTI
