India consumer price inflation moderated in February but remained above the central bank's target band, data released by the statistics ministry showed on Monday.
The consumer price index, or CPI, advanced 6.44 percent on a yearly basis in February, slower than the 6.52 percent increase seen in January.
The rate was slightly bigger than economists' forecast of 6.35 percent. Moreover, the rate stayed above the Reserve Bank of India's tolerance band of 2 to 6 percent for the second straight month.
At the February meeting, the RBI had softened its pace of monetary policy tightening after inflation returned to the target band. The bank had raised the benchmark repo rate by 25 bps to 6.50 percent.
The central bank had projected consumer price inflation at 6.5 percent in the current financial year, before easing to 5.3 percent for 2023-24.
Food price inflation slowed fractionally to 5.95 percent from 6.0 percent a month ago, official data showed.
On a monthly basis, overall consumer prices grew 0.17 percent, while food prices dropped 0.23 percent in February.
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