Credit rating agency Moody's on Monday said inflation may have peaked in India as is reflected by the latest moderation, even though global investment banker Goldman Sachs raised projection for the rate of price rise by 1.5 per cent to 11.5 per cent for the current fiscal.

Goldman Sachs, however, kept projection for the country's economic growth at 7.8 per cent during FY 2009, but scaled down its forecasts for next fiscal by 1 per cent to 7.2 per cent.

• Inflation, the silent killer

"Although it is too early to declare victory against inflation as the moderation was tiny, the latest data may be seen as a sign that inflation has peaked," said Moody's Economy.com, a subsidiary of Moody's Corporation.

After the rise for nine successive weeks, the wholesale price-based inflation eased by 0.02 per cent to 11.89 per cent for the week ended July 12.

In a report on 'Macro Roundup:Asia's Inflation Troubles,' Moody's Economy.com said though India has stepped up efforts to cool inflation, it catapulted to double digit after the Government's move to raise prices of petrol, diesel and LPG reflected in the data.

"The need to raise energy costs to reflect surge in global oil prices has kept wholesale price growth in the range of 11-12 per cent throughout June compared with a rate of 8.75 per cent recorded prior to the fuel price hike," it said.

Thus, the price growth remains much higher than central bank target of 5.5 per cent for the current fiscal, it added.

US-based investment banker Goldman Sachs said, "We are raising our inflation forecasts a notch for 2008-09 to 11.5 per cent from 10 per cent and for 2009-10 to 5.3 per cent from 4.7 per cent.