Retail inflation has been above 6% since January 2022.
Retail inflation has been above 6% since January 2022.
Retail inflation rose to an eight-year high of 7.79% yoy in April, mainly due to stubbornly high food prices, and remained above the RBI’s upper tolerance limit for the fourth straight month.
Inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI) was 6.95% in March this year and 4.23% in April 2021.
Food basket inflation rose to 8.38% in April from 7.68% in the previous month and 1.96% in the same month last year.
The Reserve Bank of India has been mandated by the government to ensure inflation stays at 4 percent, with a 2 percent margin on either side.
Retail inflation has been above 6% since January 2022.
Following last week’s off-cycle meeting of RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), RBI Governor Shakktanta Das had said that the adverse impact of unprecedentedly high global food prices is also likely to be reflected in the domestic market due to the ongoing geopolitical situation and inflationary pressures are likely to continue stop.
Meanwhile, sources said the central bank would likely raise inflation forecasts at next month’s MPC meeting and also consider a rate hike to tame inflation that is above its comfort level.
Earlier this month, the MPC raised the policy rate (repo) by 40 basis points in a bid to tame rising inflation. It was the first rate hike since August 2018.
