Unseasonal rain, crop losses could keep India's food inflation high

Economists say annual headline inflation will likely start easing from September's 7.41% peak but price pressures on grains, vegetable, and milk will persist

Indian rice farmer Ibrahim Shaikh says he looked up at the sky daily and prayed for unseasonal rains to stop. His prayers unanswered, he says he started harvesting the wet crop earlier this week.

"The crop was ready for harvesting 10 days back and twenty to thirty percent of the grains have been lost because of heavy rains. If I don't harvest now, I won't get anything," Shaikh said, as he dried harvested paddy on a plastic sheet in Kadadhe village, 110 km (70 miles) east of Mumbai.

The crop losses for Shaikh and farmers across the country mean that food prices,