New Delhi, June 30 -- In India, gold is more than just a metal-it's a tradition, a symbol of security, and an investment rolled into one. This centuries-old cultural and financial mainstay, which has a sizeable share in India's inflation basket and has seen skyrocketing prices, may be distorting the country's 'core' inflation trajectory.

Core inflation is a measure of inflation that aims to show the underlying, long-term trend of price changes in an economy, excluding the impact of components with volatile prices. In India, the main measure of core inflation has been the one that excludes food and fuel. However, economists and the central bank also look at some other measures.

-Consumer Price Index (CPI) excluding food, fuel, petrol and...