Expert Views: India's consumer inflation eases to 4.28 percent in March

MUMBAI/BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's annual consumer price inflation eased to 4.28 percent in March, data from the Ministry of Statistics showed on Thursday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast March's consumer price inflation to ease to 4.20 percent from 4.44 percent in the previous month.

ANIS CHAKRAVARTY, LEAD ECONOMIST AND PARTNER, DELOITTE INDIA, MUMBAI

"The outlook on inflation continues to remain data-dependent, but risks remain largely to the upside, especially from expectations of a rise in crude oil prices due to international output cuts, further hardening of domestic consumption, and continued impact of HRA (house rent allowance) increase.

"We expect that inflation expectations in the period ahead will possibly be shaped by oil price movement, impact of minimum support prices inclusion, fiscal slippage as GST collections remain low, and monsoon forecasts. A greater challenge would be for the RBI to set policy sentiments correctly in the coming period as higher yields, inflationary pressures and election cycle in India and US both are likely to lead to market volatility. We expect inflation prints to hover around the 5-percent mark in FY18-19."

RUPA REGE NITSURE, GROUP CHIEF ECONOMIST, L&T FINANCE HOLDINGS, MUMBAI

"Continuation of higher industrial growth driven by lower statistical base and relatively benign CPI inflation at 4.3 percent, driven by moderate food inflation, vindicates RBI's stance to hold rates and keep the policy in neutral zone. Going ahead, growth and inflation are going to give increasingly lower prints."

(Reporting by Suvashree Dey Choudhury in Mumbai, Krishna V Kurup and Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Manoj Kumar, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)