Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Retail inflation accelerated for the first time in five months in December to 5 percent as compared to 4.38 percent in November.
Consumer food price inflation, under a new series published by the government, ran up to 4.78 percent last month from 3.14 percent in November.
The Reserve Bank in the recent past has focussed on retail inflation while deciding its monetary policy, but there have been no rate cut for many months.
RBI has been targeting a retail inflation of 8 percent by March 2015 and 6 percent by January 2016.
In its December monetary policy review earlier, the Reserve Bank had kept its key repo rate unchanged at 8 percent and cash reserve ratio ( CRR) at 4 percent.
Cheaper food items helped retail inflation drop to a fresh low of 4.38 percent in November.
With agency inputs
