India’s retail inflation eased to a 67-month low of 3.34% in March 2025, driven largely by a sharp decline in food prices—particularly vegetables. This is the lowest inflation rate since August 2019, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell from 3.61% in February, coming in lower than the Bloomberg poll estimate of 3.5%.

Food and beverage inflation dropped to 2.88% in March, down from 3.84% the previous month. Vegetable prices saw a significant year-on-year contraction of 7.04%, compared to a 1.07% drop in February. On a monthly basis, vegetable inflation declined by 5.7%.

Meanwhile, core inflation (excluding food and fuel) rose slightly to 4.2%, from 4.08% in February. Despite the marginal increase in core inflation, the overall softer CPI numbers provide the RBI more room to focus on growth, potentially paving the way for rate cuts in upcoming policy reviews.