Kharif Harvest, Centre's Interventions Helped Contain Inflation: RBI

In its annual report for 2022-23, the central bank said there were upward pressures from an early onset of summer, heat waves and unseasonal rains on food prices in the first half of the year.

Inflation's upward pressures in the country on food items receded in the second half of the year 2022-23, with the robust kharif harvest and seasonal fresh crop arrivals as well as some easing in global food prices, the Reserve Bank of India said.

In its annual report for 2022-23, the central bank said there were upward pressures from an early onset of summer, heat waves and unseasonal rains on food prices in the first half of the year.

The report said the proactive supply-side interventions by the government also helped contain price pressures. "Timely beginning of the monetary policy tightening cycle with a cumulative increase in the policy repo rate by 250 bps since May 2022 helped ease demand pressures, anchor inflation expectations and contain the second-round impact of successive supply shocks," it added.

But for the timely monetary actions, inflation is estimated to have been higher by 90 bps, RBI said in the report. Geopolitical dynamics and possible weather disturbances overcast the outlook for inflation in India, it added.