By Milounee Purohit BENGALURU (Reuters) - India s retail inflation likely accelerated to 6.40% in July on surging food prices, breaching the upper end .
India s retail inflation likely breached the upper end of the central bank s tolerance band, reaching 6.40% in July, due to surging food prices caused by an erratic monsoon, according to a Reuters poll of economists.
The forecast range was 4.85%-7.60%, with a strong three-quarters majority expecting it to surpass the central bank s top end of the inflation target band, suggesting the food price surge was likely to persist at least for the next few weeks. If the poll median is correct, the current surge in inflation was likely to outstrip the 5.2% the RBI projects for this quarter.
Food prices, which account for nearly half of the inflation basket, have soared in the last two months largely due to an erratic monsoon throughout the country, pushing tomato prices at wholesale markets up more than 1,400% in the past three months.