"Elephant returning to forest": RBI Governor Das hints at inflation reaching 4 per cent target
Shaktikanta Das on Friday called inflation the elephant in the room and said that the animal seems to be returning to the forest, hinting at inflation reaching the favourable target of 4 per cent.
The governor said, «The elephant in the room was CPI inflation. The elephant has now gone out for a walk and appears to be returning to forest.»
The remark from the governor came while he was announcing the decisions of the first bimonthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of FY25.
In its April meeting, the committee decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent for the seventh consecutive time with focus on 'withdrawal of accommodation' stance.
On the inflation front, the RBI left its inflation forecast for this fiscal year unchanged at 4.5 per cent assuming normal monsoon, even as the country braces for a scorching summer amid a spike in crude oil prices and persisting worries about supply chain due to the Red Sea crisis.
In February, India's retail inflation remained largely unchanged at 5.09 per cent compared with 5.10 per cent owing to higher food prices that sparked economists to believe that the policy rate-setting panel will leave key rates unchanged in April. Food inflation rate in February quickened to 8.7 per cent from 8.3 per cent in the previous month, driven by a rise in vegetable inflation to a seven-month high of 30.2 per cent, compared to 27.1 per cent earlier.
Meanwhile, the GDP growth forecast for FY25 unchanged at 7 per cent while projecting a positive outlook for the ongoing
