Easing prices: Retail inflation dips to 9.4%

India’s retail inflation rate fell to 9.4% in April due to easing of prices of vegetables, edible oil and protein-based items such as egg, meat and fish, latest price data released on Monday showed.

India’s retail inflation rate fell to 9.4% in April due to easing of prices of vegetables, edible oil and protein-based items such as egg, meat and fish, latest price data released on Monday showed.

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Consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation — a more realistic measure of price movements as it captures shop-end prices of most goods and a few basic services — fell 1 percentage point compared to the previous month’s 10.4%.

The data is likely to bring cheer to the government caught in a pincer attack of high prices, a crippling industrial deceleration and falling political stock.

It is unlikely that the RBI will slash interest rates following fall in CPI as it is guided largely by wholesale inflation, data for which will be released on Tuesday.