Food Inflation

Food prices are in deflation, gold is soaring, and core inflation ex-gold is benign . RBI can’t hide behind averages anymore.

Chart of the Day | How food prices silently dictate headline inflation

The food inflation trajectory has quietly reshaped India’s CPI landscape so far this year.

Chart of the Day | How movement in food inflation influenced RBI rate cuts in last 5 years

While lower food inflation often creates room for rate cuts, the correlation is not absolute

Food & beverages inflation to moderate to 4.9% in FY26, says ICRA

Cooling food prices may offer relief to low and middle-income households, giving a boost to discretionary consumption

Bikaji Foods Q3: Revenue growth overshadowed by margin pressure

A sharp increase in input costs impacts gross margin while revenue growth remains strong

Need to monitor second-order effects of persistent food inflation: RBI report

Despite the sequential easing, the level of food inflation continues to remain high, with select key products experiencing high double digits inflation, RBI report said.

Working group set up for Wholesale Price Index revision, mapping roadmap for new series

The Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand-led working group will also recommend changes to the price collection mechanism and computational methodology

Rising frequency of extreme weather events continue to pose risk for food inflation dynamics, says RBI report

The report further added that persisting geopolitical conflicts and geo-economic fragmentation can also impose upside pressures on global supply chain and commodity prices.

Households spend more on food in 2023-24, but its share remains below 50%

Rise in spending could be attributed to higher food inflation over the past year. This is also evident from the decline in monthly per capita consumption of cereals in both urban and rural areas, even as the share of cereals in household spending rose

RBI MPC members expect food inflation to ease in Q4, show minutes

In November, India’s retail inflation eased to 5.5 percent in November from a 14-month high of 6.2 percent in the previous month, as food prices cooled off.

Warmer winter could impact crop yields, delay moderation in food inflation: Experts

Former Agriculture Secretary Siraj Hussain told Moneycontrol that delayed wheat sowing, particularly in Punjab due to the harvesting of paddy, could amplify the impact of high winter temperatures.

Respite from food inflation in 4 months likely; agri will grow at 5% in FY25: Ramesh Chand of NITI Aayog

Food Inflation continues to be a worry but is expected to ease in March-April with the arrival of new crop, says Ramesh Chand of Niti Aayog. He adds that while Urad dal production fall to a 10-year low in FY 25 is a concern, production of other pulses will be better.

Retail inflation rises to 14-month high of 6.2% in October

Inflation had inched up to a nine-month high of 5.5 percent in September as food inflation rose to 9.2 percent from 5.6 percent in the previous months

Global food inflation’s upward march keeps key risk in play

Central banks that are eyeing data on inflation as they seek to ease monetary policy are not going to get the prints they seek if this trend continues

Food inflation expected to ease by Q4 on better prospects of harvest: MPC Minutes

Beyond the short-term, the outlook for food inflation is becoming more favourable with improvement in kharif and rabi season prospects, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das

India's high food inflation leaves less in lunch boxes of poor school children

The three-decades old programme, intended to draw poor children into school and provide them with basic nutrition, throws into sharp relief the inflationary impact of food on the nation's most needy and the widening inequality in the world's fastest growing major economy

Chart of the Day: The two worries that kept the RBI from cutting rates

Food and fuel are spoiling the case for rate cuts, again

Food inflation pressure may ease on improved crop outlook, says RBI governor

The RBI, however, expects CPI inflation to see a big jump in September on an unfavourable base and a pick-up in prices of onion, potato and channa dal

No pivot from RBI, but changed stance paves the way for rate cut in H2FY25

RBI wants to see how evolving risks to the inflationary outlook play out, particularly food inflation and geopolitical tensions, before cutting the policy rate

Chart of the Day | A look at the link between vegetable prices and food inflation

Vegetable prices are a decisive factor in determining inflation trends at this point. There are early signs of food inflation easing but it is too early to say for sure. The MPC should be more worried about vegetable prices now than the Israel-Iran skirmish

Raghuram Rajan against excluding food inflation while setting benchmark interest rates

Rajan further said it is best that inflation target a basket which is what the consumer consumes because that affects the consumers perception of inflation and ultimately inflationary expectations.

Will the RBI toe the US Fed line on rate cut? Connect the dots

While the likelihood of a rate cut by the RBI has increased in H2FY25, an October cut is not likely, given the food inflation risks

Poll-bound Haryana’s inflation higher, J&K, Maharashtra’s lower than national average

At 6.6 percent, Bihar, which has to hold assembly elections by early 2025, had the highest inflation rate in August among larger states

Brokerages expect India's retail inflation to ease from Sept, but rate cut cycle may lag

India's retail inflation inched up to 3.65 percent year-on-year in August but stayed comfortably within the RBI's 4 percent tolerance band

August CPI shows encouraging signs in food disinflation

If we take the index values, the consumer price index was at 193 both in July and in August. In other words, month-on-month inflation for August is zero