Phone tariff hikes, more data concerns

A blanket hike in mobile phone tariffs of 10% as has been speculated in the media would add 0.2%-pts to headline inflation over the next 12 months. That wouldn’t be enough to weigh significantly on the RBI’s thinking. Meanwhile, the revelation this week that the government blocked the release of a household consumption survey continues a worrying trend. Unfortunately, we doubt that the formation of an independent regulator that some have called for would lead to any great improvement in transparency.