India’s retail inflation in May eases to 25-month low of 4.25%; April’s IIP rises to 4.2%

India's retail inflation in May eased to a 25-month low of 4.25 per cent, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Monday showed.

India's retail inflation slowed to a 25-month low of 4.25 percent in May, data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed on Monday. Meanwhile, India's index of industrial production (IIP) rose sharply to 4.2 percent in April from 1.1 percent in March.

Headline inflation, or consumer price inflation (CPI), was below RBI's medium-term target of 4/-2 percent at 4.25 percent last month.

Retail inflation remained within RBI's tolerance limits for the third consecutive month. India's retail inflation slowed to an 18-month low of 4.70 percent in April from 5.66 percent in March. The Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) fell to 2.91 percent in May from 3.84 percent in April.

Inflation in rural India was 4.17 percent last month, while urban inflation was 4.27 percent.

In its bimonthly monetary policy last week, the Reserve Bank of India revised its inflation forecast for India to 5.1 percent from 5.2 percent in 2024 while extending a pause in repo rates and keeping the rate unchanged at 6.50 percent.

The central bank said: "The pace of monetary policy has slowed in recent months, but its future remains uncertain as inflation continues to prevail globally." "(For India), firm and constant vigilance on the changing inflation outlook is imperative, especially as the monsoon outlook and the impact of El Nino remain uncertain," he added.