Food inflation soars to 9.41%

Food price index rose 9.41% and the fuel price index climbed 14.69% in the year to September 24, government data on Friday showed.

In the previous week, the fuel price index had risen by the same margin, while annual food inflation had stood at 9.13%.

The primary articles index was up 10.84%, compared with an annual rise of 11.43% a week earlier.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised interest rates a dozen times in the past 18 months, but headline inflation remains at more than twice the bank's comfort level, confounding expectations that it was coming to the end of its tightening cycle.

The RBI lifted its policy lending rate, the repo rate, by 25 basis points to 8.25% last month, in line with expectations, in a campaign that has done more to slow growth than contain near double-digit inflation.

Headline inflation in August accelerated to 9.78%, its highest in more than a year, from 9.22% in July.