Inflation likely to remain below 7% in March: Montek
Abhay Aima, Director, HDFC Securities told NDTV Profit that Budget 2012 could have greater impact than the previous budgets as the government may end up surprising everyone.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today projected the headline inflation to remain below 7 per cent during March.
"We will get the March (inflation) number sometime in the middle of April. I think we will have inflation possibly below 7 per cent," Ahluwalia said.
After declining for five months, wholesale price index (WPI) inched up again to 6.95 per cent in February due to costlier pulses and vegetables.
Headline Inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 6.55 per cent in January. In February last year, it was 9.54 per cent.
The surge in the headline inflation assumes significance because this may refrain Reserve Bank of India from cutting short term borrowing and lending rates in its mid-quarter monetary policy review tomorrow for keeping a tab on prices.
The other important development this week is the surprise surge in the industrial growth to 6.8 per cent in January as against 2.5 per cent in December.
Growth in factory output growth, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was however higher at 7.5 per cent in January 2011.