Cost of Living Rises in India as Companies Pass on Higher Prices
- Inflation spike risks denting disposable incomes, consumption
- RBI to decide on rates April 8 amid above-target inflation
Workers at a concrete block manufacturing factory near a coal-fired thermal power plant in the outskirts of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/BloombergIndian manufacturers are running out of capacity to absorb rising input costs, with an increasing number passing it along to consumers in an economy already grappling with Asia’s third-fastest inflation and an uneven recovery.
Companies from the Indian units of Unilever Plc and Suzuki Motor Corp. to homegrown JSW Steel Ltd. are raising prices in response to the global supply squeeze made worse by the surge in energy costs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Higher retail fuel prices are also threatening to hurt demand just as the economy returned to its first full-year of growth after the pandemic-induced 6.6% contraction in the fiscal year ended March 2021.