Retail inflation may have touched 7.4-7.5% in April, say economists

Consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation rate rose to 6.95 per cent in March 2022 from 6.07 per cent in the previous month

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das pointed towards elevated retail price inflation in April, but did not put a number to it.

However, economists believe that it may have been in the range of 7.4-7.5 per cent in April.

This, together with the fear that inflation rate may remain above six per cent in the current financial year, has prompted the monetary policy committee (MPC) to hike the policy rate along with cash reserve ratio (CRR). Pranjul Bhandari, HSBC chief economist, India, said near-term inflation such as the April print could be in the 7.5 per cent ballpark.

ICRA chief economist