India’s retail inflation dropped to 4.7 per cent in April from 5.66 per cent in March, an 18-month low due to favourable base, according to data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Friday.
The food inflation also eased to 3.84 per cent in April. It was 4.79 per cent in March. 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 per cent.
The retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 5.66 per cent in March 2023 and 7.79 per cent in the year-ago period. Retail inflation in April is the lowest since October 2021 when it was at 4.48 per cent.
According to the National Statistical Office (NSO), the inflation in the food basket was 3.84 per cent in April, as against 4.79 per cent in March and 8.31 per cent 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.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has projected the CPI inflation at 5.2 per cent for FY2023-24, with 5.1 per cent in Q1, 5.4 per cent in Q2, 5.4 per cent in Q3, and 5.2 per cent in Q4, and risks evenly balanced.
The price data was collected from selected 1,114 urban markets and 1,181 villages covering all the states and UTs through personal visits by field staff of Field Operations Division of NSO, according to MoSPI on a weekly roster. During the month of April, the NSO collected prices from 99.83 per cent villages and 98.56 per cent urban markets, while the market-wise prices reported therein were 89.90 per cent for rural and 93.14 per cent for urban.
Earlier, a Reuters poll by economists suggested that the consumer inflation in India likely cooled to an 18-month low in April as rises in food and fuel prices moderated, keeping it below the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’) upper tolerance level for the second consecutive month. India’s food inflation, which accounts for nearly half of the overall consumer price basket, was expected to have fallen again in April, as price rises of cereals and edible oils softened.