SumanSpeaks Capital Market & Geopolitical Intelligence Macroeconomics / Monetary Policy Crude Oil Doesn't Cause Inflation — Money Does India's transport inflation jumped from 1.75% to 4.31% in a single month this June. Headline CPI still landed at 4.38% — barely above target. The gap between those two numbers is the entire story, and almost nobody in Indian financial television is telling it. Every time crude oil climbs, a familiar script plays out on business television: anchors hold up a chart of Brent crude, warn of an "inflation bomb," and move straight to blaming the Reserve Bank of India for whatever happens next. It is one of the most persistent misconceptions in Indian financial media — the assumption that crude oil prices and consumer inflation are permanently and mechanically welded together. They are not. Crude is one cost-push ...