Retail Inflation Eases To 5.66% For The Month Of March

India's retail inflation for the month of March eased at 5.66% and came in line with the expectations. Several economists had estimated that the inflation for March would be below 6% and within a range of 5 to 5.6%, below February's number of the inflation was 6.44%.

Earlier this month, the finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman also had given guidance of inflation been kept at six per cent or below despite adverse circumstances as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to a PTI report.

As per RBI MPC announcement last week, the policy repo rate was kept unchanged at 6.50% after successive hike and decided to remain focused on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation progressively aligns with the target, while supporting growth. These decisions were in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4 per cent within a band of +/- 2 per cent, while supporting growth.

RBI also guided that the inflation trajectory for 2023-24 would be shaped by both domestic and global factors. CPI inflation was projected at 5.2 per cent for 2023-24, with Q1 at 5.1 per cent, Q2 at 5.4 per cent, Q3 at 5.4 per cent and Q4 at 5.2 per cent, and risks evenly balanced.