What was India's retail inflation rate based on the Consumer Price Index in September 2026?

The correct answer is onion, which topped the list of key items by inflation rate for the month, with prices roughly doubling over the year. Option B, silver jewellery, came second and had been ahead of onion a month earlier, which makes it the strongest distractor of the four. Option D, ginger, was third and option A, garlic, fourth, while lemon completed the list of the five costliest items. It is worth remembering the other side of the table as well, because questions are set on both: potato and tomato prices fell the most, and motor car and jeep, lady's finger and coconut also turned cheaper over the year. These item movements help explain why food inflation, measured by the Consumer Food Price Index at 7.74 per cent, outran the headline rate of 5.54 per cent for the month.

The correct answer is the Field Operations Division of the National Statistical Office, which works under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Its field staff visit selected markets and villages on a weekly roster, covering 1,407 urban markets, including online markets, and 1,465 villages spread across all states and union territories; the response rate in September 2026 was 100 per cent in both the rural and the urban sample. Option A is wrong because the Reserve Bank uses the CPI as the basis for its inflation target but does not compile it. Option C names the office associated with other price index series rather than this one. Option D is wrong because NITI Aayog is a policy body with no role in price collection. Candidates should also note that state and item level indices are published on the eSankhyiki portal and the next release falls on 12 November 2026.

The correct answer is 7.28 MT. Stock at power plants fell by about 7.28 MT over the whole of September 2026, which works out to an average draw of roughly 0.24 MT a day and explains why the easing seen in October was treated as a notable change. Option A is wrong because 0.56 MT is the much smaller total fall recorded across the first ten days of October 2026, an average of about 0.06 MT a day. Option B is wrong because 3.14 MT does not correspond to any reported drawdown for either month. Option D is wrong because 12.90 MT would be a far steeper fall than the one reported, and a decline of that size would have pushed the stock below the 18 MT level that the ministry said has been maintained since 29 September 2026.

The correct answer is 2.49 MT a day, above the plan. Coal actually delivered to the power sector averaged 2.49 MT a day in October 2026 while the plan for the month provided for 2.37 MT a day, so supply ran ahead of the programme and bettered it on nine of the first ten days. Option A is wrong because 2.21 MT a day was the September 2026 average, and the October figure is higher, not lower. Option B is wrong because 2.37 MT a day is the planned quantity itself, and actual supply exceeded it rather than merely matching it. Option D is wrong because 2.65 MT a day overstates the delivery; the reported average is 2.49 MT a day. The pairing of the actual figure with the plan figure is the part examiners test, since both numbers appear together in the ministry’s statement.

The correct answer is 469 rakes. Loading for the power sector averaged 469 rakes a day over the first ten days of October 2026, and it is this heavier movement that lifted daily coal supply and slowed the drawdown of stock. Option A is wrong because 426 rakes a day was the average for September 2026, the month against which October’s improvement of about 10 per cent is being measured. Options B and D are wrong because 447 and 482 rakes are the lowest and highest daily loading figures recorded during October, that is, the two ends of the range within which the day-to-day numbers moved, and neither is the average for the period. A question of this kind turns on separating an average from the band around it, so the figures for the floor, the ceiling and the previous month all have to be kept apart.