NEW DELHI:The Reserve Bank has announced the launch of the September round of inflation expectations survey of households covering 18 cities across the country.

Inflation is a key factor which the central bank factors in monetary policy. RBI announces monetary policy review every two months and next is scheduled on October 4.

Inflation expectations are subjective assessments of households covered in the survey and are based on households’ individual consumption baskets. The survey has been launched in — Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi and Thiruvananthapuram. The survey, RBI said, seeks “qualitative responses” from households on price changes (general prices as well as prices of specific product groups) in the next three months as well as in the next one year and quantitative responses on current, three-month ahead and one-year ahead inflation rates. “The results of this survey provide useful policy information,” the central bank said in a statement. Mumbai based Hansa Research Group has been engaged to conduct this round of the survey on behalf of the RBI. The agency will approach selected households to provide their response.—PTI