Retail inflation rises to 3.21% in Feb, stays within RBI's comfort zone

Retail inflation moved up to 3.21 per cent in February compared to 2.74 per cent in the preceding month, driven mainly by higher food prices, showed government data released on Thursday.

- MPOST BUREAU

However, the consumer price index (CPI) based retail inflation stayed within the Reserve Bank's target of 2-4 per cent. The government has mandated the central bank to ensure inflation remains at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side.

The February inflation data is based on the new CPI series with base year 2024 released last month.

Food inflation in February rose sequentially to 3.47 per cent from 2.13 per cent in January, showed the data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO).

The major items that witnessed a high pace of price hike were 'silver, gold, diamond, platinum jewellery', coconut-copra, tomato, and cauliflower.