<div>India's wholesale prices fell at a faster-than-expected annual rate of 4.05 per cent in July, their ninth straight decline and their lowest in at least a decade, mainly driven by weak food and fuel prices, government data showed.</div><div> </div><div>The data, released on Friday, compared with a 2.8 per cent year-on-year fall forecast by economists in a Reuters poll and a provisional 2.4 per cent annual decline in June.</div><div> </div><div>The wholesale food prices fell 1.16 per cent year-on-year, while fuel prices fell 12.81 per cent from a year ago.</div><div> </div><div>India's retail inflation has cooled to a record low of 3.78 per cent in July, adding pressure on the central bank chief Raghuram Rajan to cut interest rates after China devalued its currency this week.</div><div> </div><div>The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept rates unchanged at 7.25 per cent this month even though the government and industry have been urging for lower cost of borrowing.</div><div> </div><div>Rajan after the monetary policy announcement on August 4 had said the central bank may cut interest rate even out of the policy cycle depending on how macroeconomic indicators play out.</div><div> </div><div>"We are waiting for information. There was more need to move fast in the early stages of the turnaround. We will take all information into account and decide whether at times it warrants moving in between policy cycle or it does not," he had said after the policy meet.</div><div> </div><div>RBI mostly tracks the consumer price inflation for its policy decision, and its next review is due on September 29.</div><div> </div><div>(Agencies)</div>
