"The RBI ‌can afford to be patient for now, ⁠but not forever," said Alexandra Hermann Prasad, lead economist at Oxford Economics. "Mounting evidence of second-round effects and rising medium-term inflation expectations will make the supply shock increasingly ⁠difficult to look through. We expect policymakers to hold fire in October, but to deliver a 25 basis point rate hike in December." RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said earlier this month that headline inflation moved above target mainly because of higher fuel prices, while broader price pressures remained in check. While a brief pause in ​the conflict pushed global crude prices lower, they were still ​about 20% above pre-war levels.