Inflation respite

But food prices can pose policy challenges

The members of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) should be pleased to see the decline in the inflation rate. According to the official data, released on Monday, the consumer price index-based inflation rate for October declined for the second consecutive month to a five-month low of 4.87 per cent, compared to 5.02 per cent in the previous month. The decline was driven mainly by the base effect and moderation in the price of clothing, footwear, and transport. Although the inflation rate for vegetables, which had pushed up the headline rate in previous months, declined to