India's retail inflation dips to nearly 6-year low of 3.34% in March

New Delhi: Retail inflation dipped marginally to a nearly six-year low of 3.34 percent in March due to a decline in prices of vegetables and protein-rich items.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation was 3.61 percent in February and 4.85 percent in March last year.

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The inflation rate in March 2025 is the lowest since August 2019, when it was 3.28 percent.

Food inflation in March was 2.69 percent compared to 3.75 percent in February and 8.52 percent in March 2024.

Last week, the Reserve Bank reduced the key short-term lending rate (repo) by 25 bps in the wake of easing inflation.

The Reserve Bank has projected CPI inflation for the current fiscal 2025-26 at 4 percent, with Q1 at 3.6 percent, Q2 at 3.9 percent, Q3 at 3.8 percent, and Q4 at 4.4 percent. The risks are evenly balanced.

Meanwhile, wholesale price inflation declined to a six-month low of 2.05 percent in March as prices of vegetables, potato and other food items eased, government data showed on Tuesday.

Wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation was 2.38 percent in February. It was 0.26 percent in March last year.

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