Households expect marginal fall in inflation: RBI survey

MUMBAI: Indian households expect that inflation will be somewhat reined in, points out a Reserve Bank of India survey on inflation expectations.

The findings of the 27th round of the central bank's inflation expectations survey of households conducted in March 2012, show that inflation expectations for the coming three-month period marginally declined to 11.7% from 12.4% in the previous round.

The inflation expectation for the year ahead period has marginally declined to 12.5% from 13.3% in the previous round. However, the expectations that prices will slow down lasts for a shorter time frame as they expect inflation to rise further by 70 and 150 basis points during next three-month and the next one-year period, respectively.

The survey captures the inflation expectations of 4,000 urban households across 12 cities for the next three-month period and for the next one-year period.

These expectations are based on their individual consumption baskets and, hence, should not be considered as predictors of any official measure of inflation.