oppn parties Retail Inflation Eases With Moderation In Food Prices

Story Of The Day

Assessee Not Responsible For Ensuring TDS Is Paid To The Government: Delhi HC
OPINIONS : Strongly Expressed

December 21, 2024

People Are Talking About

Rohit Warns Sarfaraz, Police Use It To Warn Two-Wheeler Riders

News Snippets

  • The Indian envoy in Bangladesh was summoned by the country's government over the breach in the Bangladesh mission in Agartala
  • Bank account to soon have 4 nominees each
  • TMC and SP stayed away from the INDIA bloc protest over the Adani issue in the Lok Sabha
  • Delhi HC stops the police from arresting Nadeem Khan over a viral video which the police claimed promoted 'enmity'. Court says 'India's harmony not so fragile'
  • Trafiksol asked to refund IPO money by Sebi on account of alleged fraud
  • Re goes down to 84.76 against the USD but ends flat after RBI intervenes
  • Sin goods like tobacco, cigarettes and soft drinks likely to face 35% GST in the post-compensation cess era
  • Bank credit growth slows to 11% (20.6% last year) with retail oans also showing a slowdown
  • Stock markets continue their winning streak on Tuesday: Sensex jumps 597 points to 80845 and Nifty gains 181 points to 24457
  • Asian junior hockey: Defending champions India enter the finals by beating Malaysia 3-1, to play Pakistan for the title
  • Chess World title match: Ding Liren salvages a sraw in the 7th game which he almost lost
  • Experts speculate whether Ding Liren wants the world title match against D Gukesh to go into tie-break after he let off Gukesh easily in the 5th game
  • Tata Memorial Hospital and AIIMS have severely criticized former cricketer and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu for claiming that his wife fought back cancer with home remedies like haldi, garlic and neem. The hospitals warned the public for not going for such unproven remedies and not delaying treatment as it could prove fatal
  • 3 persons died and scores of policemen wer injured when a survey of a mosque in Sambhal near Bareilly in UP turned violent
  • Bangladesh to review power pacts with Indian companies, including those of the Adani group
D Gukesh is the new chess world champion at 18, the first teen to wear the crown. Capitalizes on an error by Ding Liren to snatch the crown by winning the final game g
oppn parties
Retail Inflation Eases With Moderation In Food Prices

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2023-04-13 07:29:36

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

Against the backdrop of consistently gloomy news on the global economic outlook (the IMF had cut India’s GDP growth rate in FY24 to 5.9% just a day earlier), the National Statistical Office released cheerful data on Wednesday which showed that while industrial output rose marginally in February, retail inflation dipped to 5.7% in March from 6.4% in February, mainly due to moderation in food prices. While rural inflation was at 5.5%, it was 5.9% in urban areas.

If inflation remains under control, experts see the RBI maintaining the pause in key interest rate hike and bat for growth. After the April meeting when the MPC paused the rate hike, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das had pointedly said that the apex bank was watching the situation and the policy decision was not a pivot as the bank will wait for a durable decline in inflation closer to target. Experts now feel that with food prices moderating and expected to moderate further in view of the expected bumper rabi crop, the RBI is likely to maintain status quo in key interest rates.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose to 5.6% in February, up from 5.5% in January. Although this is an insignificant rise, the good news is that experts feel that in terms of rolling three-month average, the overall growth in IIP is still fairly steady. This shows that although industrial output is not galloping, it is not falling too and demand is fairly steady across sectors.

But with the International Energy Agency saying that oil prices are set to rise, it remains to be seen whether another round of hikes in petroleum prices and the consequent hike in transportation costs will add to inflationary pressures. There are conflicting reports on the monsoon too. If inflation moderates further after the harvesting of the rabi crop, it will be good news for the economy. 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

Turmoil In Mollywood

Turmoil In Mollywood

NDA 3.0: Coalition Dharma

NDA 3.0: Coalition Dharma

In Depth

Supreme Court Gets Strict On Child Pornography

Supreme Court Gets Strict On Child Pornography

Editor's Pick

Budapest Chess Olympiad: India Are World Team Champions

Budapest Chess Olympiad: India Are World Team Champions
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.