New Delhi, Sept. 16 -- The era of steep inflation is over for many Asian economies, at least for now. India is among those countries: after battling persistent and steep price increases since late 2019, the country experienced a significant disinflationary trend in 2025, with inflation falling to the lower end of the 2-6% target band set by the Reserve Bank of India.

South Korea, the Philippines and Malaysia have seen inflation below the targets set by their central banks, while China and Thailand stood out for recording deflation in recent months.

Various factors contributed to the disinflationary/deflationary trends across several Asian economies, including lower oil prices, food prices and weak demand. However, one factor that has em...