New Delhi: Food prices have come down. Due to this, the overall inflation rate in the retail market has come down to the lowest in seven months. In January, the retail inflation rate was 4.31 percent. It fell to 3.61 percent in February due to the reduction in the prices of vegetables, fish, eggs, meat, pulses and dairy products. This information has been obtained from government statistics.

This is the first time since 2024 that the inflation rate has fallen below the medium-term target of 4 percent set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Along with cheaper food prices, the growth rate in the industrial sector has increased compared to last year. The growth rate in January was 5 percent. In the previous year, i.e. January 2024, this rate was 3.2 percent. The growth rate reached 5 percent mainly due to good performance in the manufacturing and mining sectors.

The overall inflation rate has come down mainly due to the reduction in food prices. Separately, the food inflation rate fell from 5.97 percent in January to 3.7 percent in February. In rural areas, the food inflation rate fell to 4.06 percent. In urban areas, it was 3.20 percent. It remains to be seen whether the repo rate is further cut to encourage borrowing and investment due to the lower inflation rate. If so, the burden of EMIs may come down a bit.