New Delhi, July 15 -- India's retail inflation eased for the eighth consecutive month in June-the longest such streak since at least January 2014. This would offer some relief to the Reserve Bank of India, which until last fiscal year had struggled to keep inflation anchored near its medium-term target of 4.0% for six years. Mint unpacks the key trends behind the latest inflation data.

India's headline retail inflation is heavily influenced by food prices, which account for nearly 40% of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket. A sustained drop in food inflation has been the main driver of the overall decline in inflation over the past eight months.

Food inflation, which was as high as 10.87% in October 2023, began to ease from November a...