New Delhi, March 12 -- New Delhi

India's retail inflation eased to a seven-month low in February, driven by a slower increase in food prices, according to provisional government data released on Wednesday, fuelling hopes of an interest rate cut.

Retail inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), was at 3.61% in February, down from 4.26% in January.

Retail inflation was 5.22% in December, 5.48% in November and 5.09% in the year-ago period, the ministry of statistics & programme implementation (MoSPI) data showed.

Interestingly, food inflation eased to 3.75% in February, after reporting a 5.97% increase in January, a figure revised in the latest MoSPI update from the 6.02% rise announced last month.

Meanwhile, industrial output...