New Delhi, April 13 -- Driven by rising food prices and energy costs from the West Asia war, India's retail inflation climbed to 3.4% in March from 3.21% in February, provisional data released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) on Monday showed.

The number - which is in line with a Mint poll of 16 economists - is still below the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) 4% medium-term target, even as war-led risks continue to build.

Notably, the latest CPI data is not strictly comparable with the year-ago period due to the reset of the index basket in January. Retail inflation was recorded at a revised 2.74% in January, marking the debut for the new series with 2024 as the base year.

The uptick in March was led by f...