India’s retail inflation eased to 5.5 percent in November, easing from a 14-month high of 6.2 percent in the previous month, as food prices cooled off.

Food inflation had eased to 9 percent for the month compared with 10.9 percent in October.

The November reading was in line with the Moneycontrol poll median of 5.5 percent from 15 forecasts.

Consumer prices have remained above 5 percent for a third consecutive month.

High inflation was one of the reasons for the monetary policy committee to advocate for no change in the policy rate for the eleventh consecutive time at its meeting in December.

The exceptionally high print in November did move the RBI to reconsider its stance on inflation, as it raised the forecast 0.3 percentage points to 4.8 percent from 4.5 percent projected earlier.

India’s consumer inflation is likely to show signs of further cooling off from January.

Asian Development Bank, in its latest economic outlook, projected inflation to fall further to 4.3 percent in FY26 from 4.5 percent projected in the September edition.

Experts have been pencilling in a 25-bps rate cut in the February meeting to coincide with easing consumer prices.