India: Inflation comes in at highest level since December 2023 in September
Latest reading: Inflation came in at 5.5% in September, exceeding market expectations and up from August’s 3.7%. September’s figure was the highest inflation rate since December 2023. The upturn was largely due to rising price pressures for food and beverages, which were stoked by surging vegetable prices and a low base effect.
Annual average inflation rose to 4.9% in September (August: 4.8%). Meanwhile, RBI core inflation—excluding fuel and food prices—rose to 3.5% from 3.4%.
Lastly, consumer prices rose 0.62% in September over the previous month, after August’s flat result.
Panelist insight: Analysts at Goldman Sachs said:
“This higher than expected spike in vegetable inflation poses some risk to our call of the start of the RBI monetary policy easing cycle in December.”