At the top of the list is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to raise the prices of food crops to help distressed farmers, a key voter base. Data due on Thursday will probably show India’s retail inflation eased to 4.1% in March from 4.4% in the previous month, according to the median estimate of 39 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The softening in inflation in March may be temporary and due to a decline in food prices, particularly vegetables and pulses. “It will have repercussions for higher inflation,” said Sameer Narang, chief economist at Vadodara, India-based Bank of Baroda. “The Reserve Bank will become slightly more hawkish if the hike in minimum support prices is higher than expected.” Bloomberg

Source: Mint April 12, 2018 03:22 UTC