Policy — Rural price pressures push India's June retail inflation above 4% target

India's headline retail inflation surpassed the central bank's 4% midpoint target in June for the first time in a year and a half, driven by accelerating rural price gains. Rural inflation climbed to 4.74% in June, while urban inflation remained contained at 3.92%. The divergence, the widest in 18 months, was fueled by higher food prices, which have a greater weight in the rural consumption basket, as well as rising non-food costs.