Retail Inflation Climbs to 5.54% in September 2026

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September 2026 on 12 October 2026. Retail inflation, measured year on year against September 2025, stood at 5.54 per cent on a provisional basis, higher than the rate recorded for August 2026. The index is compiled on the revised base year 2024=100.

Rural and urban split

Villages saw sharper price pressure than cities. Rural inflation came in at 6.08 per cent against urban inflation of 4.88 per cent. The gap of more than a percentage point is the detail most often set as a question, because the rural rate is the higher of the two this month and the combined figure sits between them.

Food prices

Inflation measured by the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) reached 7.74 per cent, well above the headline rate, which makes food the main engine of the month's rise. Rural food inflation was 8.06 per cent and urban food inflation 7.18 per cent, so in villages the food basket rose above eight per cent. Among the key items tracked, onion recorded the sharpest increase, followed by silver jewellery, ginger, garlic and lemon. At the other end, prices fell for potato, tomato, motor car and jeep, lady's finger and coconut, with potato and tomato showing the steepest declines of the five.

Where prices rose fastest

Across the divisions of the index, personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services showed the steepest rise, followed by restaurants and accommodation services; health recorded one of the mildest increases, and the purchase of vehicles actually turned cheaper. The release carries four annexures with division-wise, group-wise and state-wise indices, and among the larger states the higher headline rates were reported by Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Puducherry, while Mizoram and Nagaland were at the lower end.

How the data is gathered

Field staff of the Field Operations Division of the National Statistical Office collect prices every week on a fixed roster from 1,407 urban markets, online markets included, and 1,465 villages spread across all states and union territories. The response rate in September 2026 was 100 per cent in both rural and urban markets. The reference date for petrol, diesel and LPG prices is the fifteenth of the month. Indices are worked out from unrounded values and published to two decimal places, so a higher-level index recalculated from the published figures may differ slightly. State-level item indices are available on the eSankhyiki portal and are to be read with care, since some items rest on thin samples of price quotations. The index for October 2026 is due on 12 November 2026.