It was also mentioned that the RBI would continue to closely monitor the price behaviour leaving no room for complacency on the inflation front. As you are aware, the annual rate of inflation was 6.7 per cent at the time the April policy projections were made and it continued in the range of 6.3-6.9 per cent for nearly two months thereafter.
It, however, declined to around 4.0 per cent in August, before climbing back to 5.0 per cent or more since September 20, 2003. Inflation rate has risen further since the Mid-Term Policy on November 3, 2003 and as on December 20, 2003, the point-to-point inflation rate was 5.6 per cent.