Inflation nation: Tighten your belts. Current price rise cycle will likely be long and grim

On the back of soaring prices of cereals, vegetables, meat and fish, oils and fats, consumer food price inflation too jumped to a 16-month high of 7.7% in March, ringing alarm bells simultaneously in Delhi’s North Block and Mumbai’s Mint Street. India’s wholesale price index-based inflation also jumped to 14.6% in March, from 13.1% in February.