India’s inflation surges to an 18-month high

BENGALURU, May 10 (Reuters): India's retail inflation likely surged to an 18-month high in April, largely driven by rising fuel and food prices and staying well above the Reserve Bank of India's upper tolerance limit for a fourth consecutive month, a Reuters poll found.
The jump has been long anticipated following the Indian government's decision to wait until after key state elections in March to hike fuel prices. Energy prices globally have soared since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February.
Food inflation, which accounts for nearly half the consumer price index (CPI) basket, reached a multi-month high in March and is expected to remain elevated due to higher vegetable and cooking oil prices globally.
These factors likely pushed inflation in Asia's third-largest economy to 7.5 per cent on an annual basis in April, according to a May 5-9 Reuters poll of 45 economists, from 6.95 per cent in March.
If realised, that would be the highest inflation rate since October 2020 and well above the RBI's upper 6 per cent limit. Forecasts for the data, due to be released on May 12, ranged between 7.0 per cent and 7.85 per cent.