India’s retail inflation likely continued its downward trend to decline to a six-month low of 3.8 percent in February. Food inflation slipped below 8 percent for the first time in five months in January, as prices fell to 6.02 percent from 8.4 percent. The drop in retail prices in February is expected to boost the chance of another repo rate cut when the central bank’s monetary policy committee meets in early April. Over 90 percent of economists in a Moneycontrol poll conducted ahead of the GDP data release on February 28 predicted a further 25 basis points (bps) rate cut in the April meeting. They projected the rate to be reduced to 5.75 percent by the end of FY26. The poll was conducted between March 5 and 7 and pegged the range of forecasts from 3.4 to 4.1 percent. It was conducted by Moneycontrol on behalf of IDFC First Bank and is based on a survey of 19 economists conducted by the bank between March 4 and March 7.