Consumer inflation eases to 2.05% in January

Consumer inflation stood at a provisional 2.05 per cent in January, government data showed on Tuesday. With the latest numbers, it's being a sixth consecutive month with inflation falling within the RBI's medium-term target. 

The RBI has maintained a medium-term goal of 4 per cent for consumer inflation, which it tracks primarily to formulate its policy. Consumer inflation - determined by Consumer Price Index (CPI) - indicates the rate of increase in consumer prices.

India's Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the month of December 2018 stands at 133.7, 2.4% higher as compared to the level in the month of December 2017.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex dropped over 200 points, ending in the negative terrain for the fourth straight session Tuesday, as investors intensified selling towards the fag end of the day, even as global cues remained positive.

Realty, IT, FMCG and banking counters witnessed heavy selling ahead of index of the release of industrial production (IIP) data for December and consumer price inflation (CPI) numbers for January.

Indices failed to hold on to opening gains as profit-taking re-emerged in the later part of the session, wiping off initial gains, with the BSE Sensex settling 241.41 points, or 0.66 per cent, down at 36,153.62 points. The gauge had lost 580 points in the previous three sessions.