Retail Inflation: in election environment There is good news on the inflation front. There has been a slight decline in retail inflation in April. According to government data, retail inflation declined marginally to 4.83 percent in April due to falling prices of many kitchen items. It was at the level of 4.85 percent in March. According to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), retail inflation of food items increased marginally to 8.70 percent in April. A month ago in March, it was at the level of 8.52 percent.
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The government has given the Reserve Bank of India a target of keeping retail inflation at four percent with a variation of two percent. The central bank looks at retail inflation data while setting interest rates in its bi-monthly monetary review. The Reserve Bank says that going forward, the prices of food items will continue to influence the trend of inflation.
RBI’s focus on inflation control
Let us tell you that recently Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that there is a need to make the success achieved on the inflation front sustainable. Das had not made any change in the repo rate in the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in early April. The Reserve Bank had maintained the policy repo rate at 6.5 percent. The repo rate has remained at this level since February 2023 amid concerns over inflation.
Das had said, “To bring down inflation, the gains made in the last two years will have to be maintained.” Work will have to be done to bring down the headline inflation to the target of four per cent on a sustainable basis. Five of the six MPC members had voted in favor of status quo in the policy rate.
