Food inflation limits choices before RBI

Retail inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), for February was on expected lines at 5.1%. There are two parts to the inflation story. While core inflation — it measures the non-food non-fuel part of the CPI basket — continues to soften, food inflation is keeping the headline number elevated beyond RBI’s target range. Core and food inflation stood at 3.4% and 8.7%, respectively, in February. In fact, the food part of the print has actually seen a marginal rise between January and February because of a faster growth in meat and vegetable prices.