Retail Inflation Dips Marginally To 6.44% In Feb

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New Delhi: Retail inflation dipped marginally to 6.44 percent in February, mainly on account of a slight easing in prices of food and fuel items, as per government data released on Monday. The inflation rate based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 6.52 percent in January and 6.07 percent in February 2022.

The inflation rate for the food basket was 5.95 percent in February, lower than 6 percent in January. ()

Except for November and December 2022, retail inflation has remained above the RBI's upper tolerance level of 6 percent since January 2022. ()

The Reserve Bank has projected retail inflation at 6.5 percent for 2022-23, with the January-December quarter at 5.7 percent.

The central bank has been mandated by the government to ensure the retail inflation remains at 4 percent with a margin of 2 percent on either side.

To contain the rising prices, the RBI has hiked interest rates by 250 basis points since May last year. The latest rate hike of 25 basis points in February took the benchmark policy rate to 6.50 percent.