The week in charts: Inflation relief, oil switch, Perplexity’s offer for Chrome

Inflation relief

India’s retail inflation fell to 1.55% in July, the lowest in eight years, from 2.10% the previous month. The decline was driven mainly by falling food prices, with food recording a deflation of 1.76%. With this, inflation has come in below the lower bound of the Reserve Bank of India’s 2-6% target range for the first time since June 2017. While generally such low print would raise fears of weak demand, economists expect an uptick from August itself. And as per RBI’s projections, inflation may rise above 4% by the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year.

High stakes

The Centre plans to pare its stakes in Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and some public sector banks (PSBs) beyond Sebi’s minimum public shareholding requirement to raise funds, while retaining majority control, Mint reported. Merchant bankers will be appointed for up to five years to execute phased stake sales, mainly via qualified institutional placements (QIP). The government currently holds 96.5% in LIC, after a 3.5% stake sale through initial public offer (IPO) three years ago. The government needs to cut its stakes in five PSBs to below 75% by August 2026.

Backing down

₹15,000: This is the latest minimum monthly average balance required for ICICI Bank savings accounts in urban and metro areas. The revised balance comes after strong backlash over a recent hike in urban requirement to ₹50,000. For new accounts starting from 1 August, the requirement will be ₹7,500 in semi-urban areas and ₹2,500 in rural areas, while older accounts will continue to follow existing rules, Mint reported. Non-maintenance will incur a penalty of 6% of the shortfall or ₹500, whichever is lower.

Trade strain

India is caught between fresh US tariffs of up to 50% and long-standing ties with Russia. India, which imported $50.2 billion worth of oil from Russia in FY25, is looking to pivot to the Gulf amid the tariff and sanction threats, Mint reported. Experts believe a switch from Russian oil can be done with little cost. Russia has not been a traditional oil import partner to India and seen increased dependence post the war with Ukraine. However, the oil refiners may face lower diesel yields and higher expenses.

Roll revision

The Election Commission of India, known for its motto “no voter to be left behind", faces scrutiny after over 6.5 million voters—8.3% of Bihar’s total—were deleted in first phase of special intensive revision (SIR) ahead of state polls. Many of the districts that saw huge roll revisions had seen small victory margins in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Activists and politicians have raised questions over the rushed exercise and also alleged large-scale voter fraud in other states. The ECI has assured no voters will be deleted without notice.

Perplexity’s bid

$34.5 billion: That’s the bid AI search engine Perplexity has made for Chrome, the world’s most popular browser with over 3 billion users, Mint reported. Perplexity was valued at only $18 billion as of July, according to Bloomberg, raising questions over the bid size. Google isn’t selling yet, but US antitrust proceedings could force parent Alphabet to divest it. Perplexity, far smaller with 15 million users, wants Chrome to leapfrog in the AI search race and tap its vast browsing data. OpenAI, Yahoo, and Apollo have also expressed interest in acquiring Chrome if Google is forced to divest.

UPI’s dominance

A sneak peek into India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) habits shows that groceries and supermarkets witnessed the highest transactions among different categories, with over 3 billion transactions in July 2025. Fast food outlets ranked second with 1.2 billion payments, followed closely by restaurants at 1.15 billion. While UPI’s dominance in digital transactions is already known, this is the first time detailed category-wise data has been released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Data rewind: Tryst with culture

Even after 78 years, Jawaharlal Nehru ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech delivered on the eve of India’s independence remains alive in the country’s memory. Considered one of the best speeches of 20th century, it has found a reference in movies, books, and even inspired a Grammy-winning composition.

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