India Retail Inflation Rises: Retail inflation in the country has registered a slight increase and has reached 0.71 percent, whereas in October it was only 0.25 percent, which was the lowest level till date. This increase was mainly due to increased prices of daily essential commodities like vegetables, meat-fish, eggs, fuel and electricity.

According to the National Statistical Office (NSO), a decline of 3.91 percent was recorded in food prices in November 2025, which was 5.02 percent in October. This means that the pace of decline in prices has slowed down significantly. This indicates that pressure is increasing in the food sector.

Increased pressure on food items

There has been a sharp rise in the prices of vegetables and eggs, while the continuous increase in the prices of meat, fish and spices is putting additional burden on the pockets of consumers. Fuel and electricity inflation has also increased from 1.98% to 2.32%, which impacts transportation and production costs and ultimately affects the prices of all commodities.

There was a record decline in October due to cuts in GST in some sectors, but now when factors like festive demand, supply-chain costs and increased tariffs on imported goods are coming to the fore, it is natural for retail inflation to increase gradually. The challenge for the government is to keep inflation within a comfortable range by controlling food prices and fuel costs.

Demand increased during festive season

The burden on consumers has increased due to rising inflation in both rural and urban areas. Even though the Reserve Bank is estimating retail inflation at 2% in the current financial year, achieving this target looks challenging due to the weakness of the rupee, rising import costs and global geopolitical conditions.

The rupee crossing 90 has further complicated the situation for the government and economic managers as it creates additional pressure on all three fronts – inflation, trade deficit and financial stability.

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ICICI Bank Cuts FD and Savings Rates: ICICI has also joined the banks that reduce interest rates on bank deposits. After SBI, HDFC, now ICICI Bank has also reduced interest rates on both savings account and fixed deposits. These revised rates have become effective from 17 April 2027. After cutting the repo rate from RBI, the bank has now taken this step.

If you have a savings account with ICICI Bank, then you will get less interest on it now. The rates of interest per year on the amount of Rs 50 lakhs have now been increased to 2.75 percent, which was 3 percent earlier. Apart from this, if your savings account is Rs 50 lakh or more, then interest rates have been reduced from 3.5 percent to 3.25 percent.

Customers are getting interest from 3% to 7.05% on fixed deposits, while senior citizens are getting rates ranging from 3.5 percent to 7.55 percent. For example, on 30 to 45 days FD, now normal customers will get 3% interest, which was earlier 3.5%. Similarly, the interest rate on FD of 61 to 90 days has been reduced from 4.5% to 4.25%.

Now 6.8 percent interest will be available on fixed deposits of 15 to 18 months, whereas earlier this rate was 7.25 percent. The interest rate on FD of 18 months to 2 years has been reduced from 7.25 percent to 7.05 percent. However, senior citizens are getting a little more interest than normal customers on every period. For example, senior citizens get 3.5 percent interest on 7 to 29 days FD, while the interest rates on 46 to 60, 61 to 90, 91 to 184, and 185 to 270 days have been fixed at 4.75%, 4.75%, 5.25% and 6.25% respectively.

The special thing is that the interest rate for general customers on 2 years 1 day to 5 years fixed deposits has been increased from slightly to 6.9 percent, and this rate for senior citizens is 7.40 percent. At the same time, the interest rate on FD from 5 years to 10 years to 10 years has been reduced to 6.8 percent for normal customers and 7.30 percent for senior citizens. Now general customers will get 6.9 percent interest on 5-year tax-saving FD and 7.40 percent interest to senior citizens.

It is worth noting that this change is due to the policies of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which is currently moving towards reducing interest rates. Its effect is clearly visible on the deposit schemes of banks.

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