India Inflation

India's wholesale price inflation rose to an eight-month high of 0.83 per cent in December, ending a two-month deflationary spell as food prices stabilised and core inflation firmed up

December 2025 CPI-based inflation: The increase in headline inflation is mainly attributed to an increase in the prices of items across personal care, vegetables, meat and fish, egg, and pulses

Core inflation, excluding food and fuel components, likely edged up to 4.53 per cent in December from an estimated 4.2 per cent-4.3 per cent in Nov, ‍partly due to a 7 per cent rally in gold prices

India is preparing to rejig methodology for computing CPI and revamp monetary policy mandate for targeting retail inflation in 2026 after a year of benign price situation due to subdued food cost and GST reduction. Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation remained in the Reserve Bank's comfort zone (2-6 per cent) and is likely to stay that way in the next year also, keeping open the possibility of at least one more reduction in rates by the central bank in the coming months. Besides cooling food prices, the decision of the government to reduce GST rates on about 400 items in September helped in further improving the price situation in the country. The wholesale price index (WPI), too, showed clear signs of easing of inflationary pressures through 2025. Early months recorded positive but declining WPI inflation, reflecting softening price pressures especially in food and fuel categories. By June, WPI entered deflation and the downward trend continued with negative prints in

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November 2025 WPI-based inflation: The negative rate of inflation in November is primarily due to a decrease in prices of food articles, mineral oils, crude petroleum and natural gas

WPI inflation data, trading activity of foreign investors and global cues would dictate trends in the stock market this week, analysts said. Besides this, movement of rupee against the US dollar and crude oil would also be tracked by investors, they noted. Markets remained volatile and ended the last week in negative territory. Last week, the BSE benchmark index declined by 444.71 points, or 0.51 per cent. "This week features an active domestic data calendar, with the release of India's Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation and trade balance figures. Developments related to India-US trade discussions will remain in focus, while globally, the performance and macro cues from US markets are expected to influence near-term sentiment," Ajit Mishra -- SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said. Foreign investors pulled out Rs 17,955 crore (USD 2 billion) from Indian equities in the first two weeks of this month, taking the total outflow to Rs 1.6 lakh crore (USD 18.4 billion) in ...

Food deflation eases to -3.91%, rural inflation turns positive at 0.10%, but gold & silver surge above 58% keeps core elevated

Besides cutting interest rates by 25 bps, the RBI also revised its GDP growth forecast for fiscal 2025-26 (FY26) upward to 7.3 per cent from the current estimate of 6.8 per cent

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the central bank does not target exchange-rate levels and intervenes only to curb abnormal volatility

Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran expressed hope that the currency will recover next year

India's economy expanded at a sharper-than-expected clip of 8.2 per cent in the July-September quarter, prompting analysts to raise their full-year growth estimates to above 7 per cent

Agriculture was expected to do well and growth at 3.5 per cent is supported by a good kharif harvest expected, which will reflect more in Q3, said Madan Sabnavis

The central bank's inflation miss in the first three months of the year was 0.7 percentage points - the biggest gap in almost six years, and well above economists' projections

October 2025 WPI-based inflation: The negative rate of inflation is primarily due to a decrease in prices of food articles, crude petroleum & natural gas, electricity, and mineral oils

Inflation could stay low for some time, but should be viewed with caution amid global risks and climate change

October CPI-based inflation: India's food inflation dropped sharply in October, falling to -5.02 per cent from -2.28 per cent in September

Economists at the BS BFSI Summit said India's inflation-targeting framework has anchored expectations and strengthened RBI's credibility, but needs more flexibility and stronger policy coordination

After slashing repo rates for three consecutive months since February, the MPC kept the rate unchanged at 5.5 per cent in August

Recent GST rate cuts will help lower inflation over the next year and also bring a further upside bias to the country's growth prospects, the Finance Ministry said in its monthly report. However, "this is not the time to drop our guard. Uncertainties and risks persist," it said, adding that for now, the risks appear manageable, but they are there. If tariff uncertainties persist, there will be an impact on export sectors, with spillover risk to domestic employment, income and consumption. The decision by the US government to impose a fee hike on new H1B visa-seekers is a reminder of the risks of trade uncertainties, affecting the hitherto unaffected services sector, the Finance Ministry said in its Monthly Economic Review. The central government's reform agenda is expected to cushion the economy against the adverse effects of trade disruptions, it added. "The near-term outlook, therefore, is characterised by steady, reform-driven growth rooted in macroeconomic discipline and adapti