Retail inflation in India expected to drop further
India's retail inflation is likely to dip to 2.3% in June, down from 2.8% in May, mostly because food prices are easing up.
This drop could give the RBI more room to focus on growth, but core inflation is still above 4%, mainly thanks to rising gold prices.
Gold prices keeping core inflation high
With food making up nearly 40% of what goes into measuring inflation, cheaper groceries are a big reason for the slowdown—food inflation might even fall below 1%.
Still, things like gold are keeping core inflation higher than the RBI would like.
Average inflation for April-June likely under RBI's estimate
While this cooling trend gives the RBI more space to focus on growth, there's a catch: seasonal jumps in essentials (think tomatoes) could push prices back up.
For now though, average inflation for April-June looks set to be just under what RBI predicted.