India cenbank committed to inflation target

India's central bank is committed to its inflation mandate and the likely uptick in January inflation towards the upper end of its target band should not create any panic, central bank chief Shaktikanta Das said on Monday.

"Today's inflation print is expected to be around 6 per cent. So that should not surprise or create any alarm, because we have taken that into consideration," Das said.

"There's a sort of major delicate balance between inflation and growth and the Reserve Bank is fully aware of its commitment to inflation," he added.

Das made the comments after a meeting with the country's finance minister and the central bank's board in a customary post-budget meeting.

India's retail inflation likely accelerated to 6.0 per cent in January, driven by higher consumer goods and telecom prices along with a comparatively low rate a year ago, a Reuters poll found.

Das reiterated that the inflation trajectory in India was on a downward slope since October and despite global crude oil prices having spiked in recent weeks the central bank had taken into account all scenarios.

Last week, the RBI's monetary policy committee kept rates and its stance unchanged to ensure a broad-based recovery and projected retail inflation to ease to 4.5 per cent in the next fiscal year.

Das also said the Reserve Bank of India is working on the borrowing programme for the next fiscal year, while the country's inclusion in global bond indexes is also a work in progress.