Overview
- The rise to a three-month high still kept inflation under 2% for a fourth straight month, slightly below a 1.5% Reuters poll forecast.
- Food prices fell 2.71% year-on-year versus a 3.91% decline in November, with the NSO citing firmer readings in vegetables, pulses, spices, eggs, and meat and fish.
- Urban inflation strengthened to 2.03% compared with 0.76% in rural areas, highlighting a widening city–country gap.
- Core inflation was reported near 4.6%, which analysts linked to higher gold prices, while core excluding gold was estimated around 2.6%.
- December’s figure is the final print under the 2012 base, with a new 2024-base CPI due on Feb. 12 that may complicate direct comparisons around the upcoming policy meeting.