INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Committee (MPC) in April.
Data released by the National Statistical Office on Monday showed the Consumer Price Index-based inflation rate
rising unexpectedly to a three-month high at 6.52 per cent in January, from 5.72 per cent in December, as goods across categories, including
food and beverage, housing, and services, saw price rise, with food prices leading the chart.
Core inflation, which excludes food and fuel
prices, remained sticky above the 6 per cent mark
The upside inflation surprise came days after the RBI revised down its January-March quarter retail inflation forecast by 20 basis points
(bps) to 5.7 per cent.
The MPC hiked the repo rate by another 25 bps, while cautioning that further calibrated monetary policy action is
warranted to keep inflation expectations anchored, break the persistence of core inflation, and thereby strengthen the medium-term growth
prospects.
Abheek Barua, chief economist at HDFC Bank, said it is clear that the inflation fight is not over yet and the moderation seen at
inflation, the terminal policy rate could be higher than what the market currently expects
added.
Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda, expects inflation to remain elevated in the next two months, although there will
if inflation remains above the 6 per cent mark in the next couple of months, there could be further rate hike, although it is a low
December, due to acceleration in the inflation rate of cereals, protein-rich items like eggs and meat, milk, vegetables, fruit, pulses,
spices, and edible oil.
Spices (21.1 per cent) and cereals (16.1 per cent) continue to face double-digit inflation, followed by milk (8.79
per cent), eggs (8.78 per cent) and meat (6.04 per cent)
However, vegetables (minus 11.7 per cent), sugar (0.9 per cent), edible oil (1.4 per cent), and fruit (2.9 per cent) faced lower inflation
in January.
Services inflation, which includes health, education, transport and communication, recreation, and personal care, increased to
a five-month high of 6.21 per cent, from 6.17 per cent in December.
Sunil Kumar Sinha, principal economist at India Ratings - Research,
decision to sell wheat at Rs 2,350 per quintal to bulk users through e-auction can have some impact on open market wheat price
added.
Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA Ratings, said that the broad-based sequential fall in prices of several food items in early
acreage has brightened the rabi output prospects, amid early sowing, improved fertiliser availability, and healthy reservoir storage,
