India’s retail inflation eases to 4.44% in February

CPI inflation for the month of February slowed down to 4.44% from 5.07% in January this year.

India’s retail inflation eased for a second straight month in February to 4.44%, from last month’s 5.07% as food prices fell, government data showed on Monday.

February’s consumer price inflation slowed to 4.44%. (AP Photo)

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast February’s consumer price inflation to ease to 4.80%, from 5.07% in the previous month.

“The downward move in inflation is on the back of seasonal food price reduction. This trend will likely taper off over the next one-two months as the effect of the kharif harvest wanes. Further, adverse base effect will move inflation to its peak of around 5.5-6.0% before gliding towards 4.5% by March 2019”, Suvodeep Rakshit, senior economist at Kotak Institutional Equities told Reuters.