The Reserve Bank of India earlier this month warned that high energy prices could stoke inflation while cutting the growth forecast to 9.5% from 10.5% for the current fiscal year beginning April.
Annual retail inflation rose 6.30% year-on-year, up from 4.29% in April. Analysts had forecast retail inflation at 5.30%.
The monthly bulletin was of the view that the recent increases in international and domestic energy prices are expected to have transitory effects on inflation.
On month-on-month basis, it increased by 1.8% in February 2021 as compared to a decrease of 0.2% in the previous month and a decrease of 1.0% in February 2020.