After easing for nine straight months, India’s consumer inflation climbed to 2.07% in August, in line with analyst estimates, government data showed Friday.
The rise in August inflation was “mainly attributed to increase in inflation of vegetables, meat and fish, oil and fats, personal care and affects, egg,” the government said in a release.
Median estimates by economists polled by Reuters had pegged the year-on-year headline inflation rate at 2.1% after price growth in July hit 1.55% — the lowest since June 2017 — on the back of declining food inflation.
Despite the August uptick, India’s inflation is hovering close to the Reserve Bank of India’s target inflation band of 2% to 6%. The central bank last month forecast CPI growth of 3.1% for the fiscal year ending March 2026.
“We expect inflation to accelerate further in coming months, although the effects of GST rate cuts should lower the pace of acceleration from October onwards,” said Hanna Luchnikava-Schorsch, head of Asia-Pacific Economics at S&P Global Market Intelligence, adding that consumer inflation is expected to average at 3.3% in the current fiscal year running to the end of March 2026.
