New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has failed to meet its pricing mandate, with the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation for September confirming a third consecutive quarter in which average inflation has remained above the 2-6 percent tolerance level.

Data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed that headline retail inflation increased from 7.00 percent in August to 7.41 percent in September.

The September CPI inflation rate of 7.41 percent is slightly higher than the consensus prediction. According to a Moneycontrol poll, CPI inflation was forecast to increase to 7.3%.

Inflation as measured by the CPI averaged 6.3 percent from January to March, 7.3 percent from April to June, and is now 7 percent from July to September.

According to the law, the RBI must now give a report to the federal government outlining why it failed, the corrective measures it plans to take, and the time frame for getting inflation back on target.

Governor Shaktikanta Das had stated that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) would convene to consider the RBI’s report to the government during the post-policy press conference on September 30.

“So, what we will write, I will not say. But as I have said earlier, we are expecting the inflation to come down close to the target over a two-year cycle, that was our expectation earlier and even now,” Das had added.

CPI inflation is expected to average 6.7 percent in FY23 before falling to 5.2 percent in FY24, according to the most recent prediction from the RBI.

As was to be expected, rising food costs were the primary cause of the increase in inflation in September, which rose to 8.6 percent from 7.62 percent in August.

The September food inflation rate of 8.6 percent is the highest in 22 months.