India's retail inflation eases to 5% in September, drops within RBI tolerance band
India's retail inflation eased to 5.02 per cent in September on an annual basis as against 6.83 per cent in August, showed data released by the ministry of statistics on Thursday.
On a monthly basis, the prices deflated (-) 1.13 per cent. The food price inflation for September stood at 6.56 per cent as 9.94 per cent in August.
The rural and urban inflation stood at 5.33 per cent and 4.65 per cent, respectively.
Inflation rate for vegetable declined significantly to 3.39 per cent in September from 26.14 per cent in August.
Cereal inflation stood at 10.95 per cent in the month of September. The fuel and light segment deflated (-)0.11 per cent in September.
Earlier, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das had expressed the central bank's anticipation of inflation moderating starting in September.
Professional forecasters, comprising economists surveyed by the RBI, projected that the headline CPI inflation will ease from 6.6 per cent in the September quarter to 5.5 per cent in the December quarter. Further projections indicated a decrease to 5.1 per cent in the March 2024 quarter and a range of 5.2-4.0 per cent in the first half of 2024-25.
Regarding core inflation (CPI excluding food and fuel), expectations stood at 4.9 per cent for the September quarter.
Long-term inflation expectations of professional forecasters, gauged by their 5-year ahead projections, have softened to 4.9 per cent, while 10-year ahead expectations remain steady at 4.5 per cent.
