Retail inflation likely to average 4.5% in 2024-25: Michael Patra

16 Oct 2024 Evaluate

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Michael Debabrata Patra has said the retail inflation is projected to average 4.5 per cent in 2024-25 and align with the target on a durable basis by 2025-26. The government has tasked the RBI to ensure that consumer price index (CPI) based retail inflation at 4 per cent with a tolerance band of +/- 2 per cent around it. The inflation has remained below 6 per cent in the last three months.

Patra also stressed that the Indian experience is unique in view of the incidence of repetitive shocks to food and fuel prices, which challenged the conduct of monetary policy. He said in India, price stability is a shared responsibility under which the government sets the target, and the central bank achieves it. This allows monetary-fiscal coordination without posing risks to financial stability, fiscal consolidation or growth - perhaps a template for countries vulnerable to inflationary pressures emanating from supply shocks.

He further said that in the years ahead, the conduct of inflation targeting (IT) - based monetary policy may face even greater challenges. Central banks face an existential threat to their central mandates from climate change through supply shocks such as food and energy shortages and a decline in productive capacity. He added that while formulating monetary policy, it is considered good housekeeping to evaluate the balance of risks. From this perspective, IT policy frameworks of the future need to be more robust, realistic and nimble, while exploiting synergies with prudential, fiscal and structural policies and leveraging.


© 2026 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×