Oct 7 (Reuters) – Indian households are expecting inflation to head higher, a central bank survey showed on Wednesday, signalling that rising food and fuel prices are starting to have an impact beyond headline inflation.
On Wednesday, the Indian central bank raised rates for the first time in nearly four years to stem rising inflation.
Household inflation expectations are closely watched because they can influence spending and wage demands. The central bank has said such surveys reflect sentiment and are not a direct forecast of actual inflation.
Here are the details:
• The Reserve Bank of India said the median inflation perception for the period during which the survey was conducted rose to 8.4% in the September round of the survey from 7.8% in the previous survey
• The median inflation expectations for the next three months increased to 9.9% from 9.2% and one-year expectations climbed to 10.0% from 9.4%, the RBI said
• The survey, conducted from September 10 to September 20 across 19 major cities, drew 5,987 responses
• The share of respondents expecting general inflation to rise also edged up for both time horizons, the central bank said
(Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
