The consumer price inflation (CPI)-based inflation in India eased marginally to 6.44 per cent in February, according to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. This is lower than 6.52 per cent in January but still above the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) upper tolerance band of 6 per cent.
According to the government data, the rural inflation was 6.72 per cent and urban inflation was 6.10 per cent. The combined food inflation was also near 6 per cent limit at 5.95 per cent. It was 6 per cent in January.
On Sunday, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Ashima Goyal said that Inflation in India is expected to come down over the year. She added that the government's supply-side action coordinated with a flexible inflation-targeting regime has kept the rate of price rise lower than that in other countries.
Goyal also said that India has successfully dealt with 'pluri-shocks' over the past three years, showing considerable resilience.
The RBI has raised its benchmark repo rate by 250 basis points since May last year. According to reports, there is expectations of another 25 basis points hike to 6.75 per cent in April before it hits the pause button.
The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by Governor Shaktikanta Das, in February announced a 25 basis point (bps) hike in repo rate to 6.5 per cent. The RBI earlier lowered the CPI forecast to 6.5 per cent for the current fiscal year from 6.7 per cent. Before that in December, the inflation was at a one-year low of 5.72 per cent.
Meanwhile, India's GDP growth rate declined for the second consecutive quarter in October-December (Q3FY23), coming in at 4.4 per cent, according to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Tuesday. The latest quarterly growth number at 4.4 per cent is lower than the 6.3 per cent growth that was seen in the second quarter of 2022-23.