India Inflation Rate: In a major relief for the Indian middle class the inflation rate dipped to 2.82 percent in May 2025 the lowest retail inflation witnessed in the country in more than six years since February 2019. In an official statement issued Thursday the Ministry of Statistics revealed that inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined to 2.82 percent in May compared to the same month previous year. Food inflation lowest since Feb 2019 The ministry said that Indias food inflation declined to 0.99 percent during May the lowest since October 2021 adding that food inflation has decreased for the seventh consecutive month while agricultural output has surged. According to the statement the significant dip in inflation is mainly attributed to the decline in inflation of pulses vegetables fruits cereals household goods & services sugar and eggs. Additionally the decrease in global crude oil prices which resulted in a moderation in fuel prices also contributed to the decline in inflation rate it said. RBI revises inflation outlook for FY25-26 Meanwhile the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised its inflation outlook for 2025-26 to 3.7 percent from the earlier 4 percent said RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra. The central bank has now projected the CPI inflation for the financial year 2025-26 at 3.7 percent with Q1 at 2.9 percent Q2 at 3.4 percent Q3 at 3.9 percent and Q4 at 4.4 percent. According to the RBI Governor Indias retail inflation has significantly softened over the last six months from above the tolerance band in October 2024 to well below the target with signs of a broad-based moderation. The near-term and medium-term outlook now gives us the confidence of not only a durable alignment of headline inflation with the target of 4 per cent as exuded in the last meeting but also the belief that during the year it is likely to undershoot the target at the margin. While food inflation outlook remains soft core inflation is expected to remain benign with easing of international commodity prices in line with the anticipated global growth slowdown Malhotra said. Repo rate cut by 50 basis points The sharp decline in inflation has enabled the RBI to go in for a 50 basis points cut in the repo rate from 6 per cent to 5.5 per cent to spur growth in the economy in the monetary policy review last week. Additionally the RBI also announced a 100 basis point cut in the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) from 4 percent to 3 percent to be implemented in four tranches of 25 bps each. The move is expected to inject Rs 2.5 lakh crore into the banking system boosting liquidity and supporting credit flow. (With inputs from IANS)