Retail inflation jumps, rate cut expectations shift; should investors adjust investment strategy? Experts weigh in
India’s retail inflation for September came in higher than expected, sparking concerns that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) might delay interest rate cuts even further, potentially dampening investor risk appetite.
Higher food prices drove Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation, or retail inflation, to a nine-month high of 5.49 per cent, still within the RBI’s medium-term target of 2-6 per cent.
This is a blow to market expectations of a rate cut in December as the RBI, in its October monetary policy review, projected inflation to ease gradually, averaging 4.5 per cent for the financial year 2025.
Some economists now foresee a rate cut delayed to the first half of 2025. However, some hope RBI will bite the bullet and cut rates in…
