Inflation in India, which has created a panic-like situation in the North Block, likely eased to 7 per cent against 7.24 per cent in December, an NDTV Profit poll of 15 investment banks has shown.
Forecasts for the index, due on Thursday around 01.30 p.m., ranged from 6.8 per cent to 7.2 per cent.
The banks that participated in the poll were Yes Bank (6.8 per cent), ICICI Securities (7.06 per cent), Nomura (6.8 per cent), Axis Bank (6.97 per cent), Barclays (7.10 per cent), CARE (6.72 per cent), CRISIL (7 per cent), Credit Suisse (7.3 per cent), Deutsche Bank (7.10 per cent), HDFC Bank (7.15 per cent), HSBC (7.10 per cent), ICRA (7.10 per cent), Kotak Mahindra (7.20 per cent), RBS (6.89 per cent) and Standard Chartered (6.98 per cent).
Still, the headline rate will probably remain well above the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) perceived comfort zone of around 5 per cent for a while, giving the central bank little room to ease monetary policy aggressively.
The RBI cut its key lending rate in January for the first time in nine months to support a slowing economy but said further easing would depend on both the gaping current account deficit and inflation moderating further.
Prices of manufactured goods, which have a 65 per cent weighting in the headline rate, led the slowdown in the inflation rate in December.
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