Inflation is settling in. Now for the interest rate hike |
The latest consumer price index (CPI) numbers for October— a year-on-year increase of 6.09 per cent overall and 8.94 per cent for food — carry a sobering message. Retail inflation, the highest since the 6.21 per cent of October 2024 and above the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) 6 per cent upper tolerance limit, is getting generalised. This is even more so in food, where the annual price rise is the highest since the 9.04 per cent of November 2024. The generalisation of inflation — businesses progressively passing through higher costs to consumers — is borne out, for example, by the expenses of eating out: In January 2026,........