New Delhi, Aug. 25 -- The main measures of Indian inflation sometimes tend to wander off in different directions. We are at one such confusing moment. This has implications for the Monetary Policy Committee that decides the pivotal interest rate for the Indian economy.

Here are the bare numbers. Consumer price inflation has been inching up for the past eight months. It is likely to continue to do so over the next few months as well. The latest reading was 4.45% in July, the highest in 19 months. However, it is not too far from the average monthly inflation over the past five years.

Also, it is only marginally higher than the level that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) targets and is well within the broader inflation range that the centra...