Indian Households Expect Inflation To Ease, Shows RBI Survey
Indian households are growing more optimistic about price stability, with the latest RBI Household Inflation Expectations Survey indicating a significant softening in both current and future inflation outlooks. The November 2025 round of the bi-monthly survey, conducted across 19 major cities between November 1–10 with 6,061 participants, highlights a broad-based easing in inflation perceptions.
Current Inflation Perceptions Fall Sharply
The survey revealed a notable decline in households’ perception of current median inflation, which fell by 80 basis points to 6.6% compared with the previous round. Alongside this dip, expectations for inflation over the next three months and one year ahead also moderated.
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Three-month outlook: softened by 50 bps to 7.6%
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One-year outlook: eased by 70 bps to 8.0%
The RBI noted that for both short-term and one-year periods, fewer respondents now expect prices and inflation to rise, continuing a steady downward trend.
Price Expectations Ease Across Major Categories
Households reported easing price pressures across almost all product groups, including food, non-food items, housing, services, and household durables.
- The share of respondents expecting food prices to rise in the next three months slipped to 74.9%, down from 79% in September.
- Expectations for non-food price increases dropped to 67.8%, from 73.4% previously.
- One-year-ahead expectations mirrored this cooling, with general inflation expectations falling to 83.6%, compared to 86.8% in September.
Household durables saw the steepest improvement: only 68% of respondents foresee price rises, a sharp decline from over 78% earlier in the year.
Softening Seen Across Age, Employment and Gender Groups
The moderation in inflation sentiment was broad-based across all demographic categories.
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Median current inflation perception ranged from 6.1% among respondents aged up to 25 years to 7.4% among those aged 35–45 years.
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All age groups recorded a decline from previous rounds.
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Homemakers and retired individuals , typically more sensitive to price changes , also reported easing pressure.
Overall, the findings point to a widespread cooling of inflation expectations among Indian households, signalling improved confidence in price stability going forward.
(This News Has Been Syndicated From ANI, Mildly Edited For Clarity)
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