The 8 percent projection for March 2012 is higher than the 6-7 percent forecast by the Government. The Reserve Bank had also earlier said it expected headline inflation to moderate to around 6 percent by end of the fiscal.
"We... Expect headline inflation to average 9-9.5 percent (in 2011-12) with the March reading likely at 8 percent as against the RBI's estimate of 6 percent," Citi India said in its 'India Macro Flash'.
It further added: "We maintain our view that prices will remain elevated due to upward revision in minimum support prices of agri crops which sets a floor to market prices, continued upward revisions to past data and the fact that while commodity prices have eased, they are relatively higher than last year".
Headline inflation, as measured by Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 9.44 percent in June, up from 9.06 percent in May.
In recent months, the inflation data has seen frequent revisions including for April which was revised to 9.74 percent from the initial estimate of 8.66 percent. The revisions have put further pressure as the revised numbers soar much above the initial estimates.
PTI
