Inflation to fall to 9% by Mar '09: RBI

Inflation is likely to remain above 11 per cent this year and may come down to around 9 per cent by March next year, says a survey of economists conducted by the Reserve Bank.

"The estimate for wholesale price-based inflation on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter of 2008-09 is projected to be 9.2 per cent," the survey said.

In its quarterly review of monetary policy on July 29, the RBI said it would take all efforts to bring down inflation to 7 per cent by the end of current fiscal from the present level of around 12 per cent.

The survey approached 31 forecasters, though 20 participants responded, for projections on growth, inflation, savings and other indicators.

According to the survey, inflation is likely to remain in double digits for the next two quarters, with forecast for the second and the third quarter at 11.7 and 11.4 per cent respectively.

Inflation for the week ended July 19 stood at 11.98 per cent, a tad lower than psychological level of 12 per cent.

On the economic growth, the RBI survey projected a GDP growth of 7.9 per cent against the RBI's projection of 8 per cent for the current fiscal in its review announced recently.

"They, however, expect it to improve to 8 per cent in 2009-10," a RBI statement said.

Reflecting the impact of rise in interest rates on India Inc bottomline, the survey projected a fall in corporate profit to 16 per cent in the current fiscal from 25 per cent expected in the previous survey.