Food price rise may bump up Aug retail inflation

India's consumer price index (CPI)-based retail inflation rate is likely to have recorded an uptick from the eight-year nadir of 1.55 per cent in July to around 2.2 per cent in August, according to a Business Standard poll of nine economists.

- SHIVA RAJORA

Economists reckon that retail inflation moved up in August on account of an increase in food prices as excess rains during the month affected crops, along with a low base effect coming into play.

Retail inflation was 3.65 per cent in August 2024. A spike in prices of services like personal care, as well as precious metals like gold could have spurred up core inflation too.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) will release the August CPI data on Friday. In its August monetary policy review, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had revised its inflation projection for FY26 to 3.1 per cent from 3.7 per cent. While consumer prices rose an average 2.69 per cent in the first quarter of this fiscal year (Q1FY26), the RBI expects inflation to average 2.1 per cent in Q2, before rising to 3.1 per cent in Q3 and 4.4 per cent in Q4.