Consumer inflation eases to 6.46% in Sep 13/10/2014

Consumer inflation eases to 6.46% in Sep
13/10/2014 19:37
Consumer inflation in India fell for a second month on the trot in September 2014, leaving leeway for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to start easing monetary policy in the coming months, lifting the outlook for Asia’s third biggest economy, which expanded at the fastest pace in more than two years in Q1 FY 2014-15.
Consumer prices in India climbed by 6.46 per cent in September 2014 from the same month a year ago, the lowest level since 2012, government data showed on Monday.
Analysts were expecting consumer inflation to stand at 7.2 per cent in September 2014.
Further, August’s 2014 consumer inflation figure was downwardly revised to 7.73 per cent from an earlier forecast of 7.8 per cent.
What is more comforting is that core consumer inflation eased to 5.9 per cent in September 2014 from 6.9 per cent in August 2014.
The retreat in consumer inflation means that the RBI is unlikely to tighten monetary policy in the coming months and may consider cutting interest rates from next fiscal onwards.
Consumer inflation is likely to undershoot the RBI’s 8 per cent target for January 2015. The central bank aims to contain consumer inflation at 6 per cent by January 2016.