India’s retail inflation slows to over 5-year low in March

Customers buy fruits and vegetables at an open air evening market in Ahmedabad, India, August 21, 2023. —Reuters

NEW DELHI: India’s retail inflation eased to 3.34 per cent in March, the slowest pace in over five years, as food prices continued to soften, government data released on

Tuesday showed.

March retail inflation was below economists’ estimate of 3.6 per cent. Inflation for February was 3.61 per cent. The March inflation was the lowest since August 2019, the government said in a statement.

Food inflation eased to 2.69 per cent in March from 3.75 per cent in the previous month. Vegetable prices fell 7.04 per cent year-on-year, compared with a 1.07 per cent fall in February.

Prices of cereals rose 5.93 per cent against a 6.1 per cent increase in February, while those of pulses fell 2.73 per cent compared to a 0.35 per cent fall in the previous month.