MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has pegged retail inflation for the April-June quarter of the current financial year at 5.2 percent. Announcing the first Monetary Policy for FY22, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that the consumer price index (CPI) inflation for the fourth quarter of the last fiscal has been revised to 5 per cent.

The RBI Governor noted that the evolving CPI inflation trajectory is likely to be subjected to both upside and downside pressures.   He added that while edible oils inflation has been ruling at heightened levels with international prices remaining firm, reduction of import duties and appropriate incentives to enhance productivity domestically could work towards a better demand-supply balance over the medium-term.

"The bumper foodgrains production in 2020-21 should sustain softening of cereal prices going forward, while the prices of pulses, particularly tur and urad, remain elevated, the incoming rabi harvest arrivals in the markets and the overall increase in domestic production in 2020-21 should augment supply which, along with imports, should enable some softening of these prices going forward," he said.

Suggesting that the states the Centre should take steps to control the rising fuel prices, Das said: "Pump prices of petroleum products have remained high. Reduction of excise duties and cesses and state-level taxes could provide some relief to consumers on top of the recent easing of international crude prices. This could slow down the propagation of second-round effects." The impact of high international commodity prices and increased logistics costs are being felt across manufacturing and services, he added.

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