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Consumer Price Index (CPI) & Retail Inflation
Retail inflation is the year-on-year rise in the Consumer Price Index, the basket of prices Indian households actually pay. The National Statistics Office compiles it every month on a 2024 = 100 base. In August 2026 the headline rate reached 4.82 percent, up from a finalised 4.45 percent in July. That is the highest of the eight monthly rates this series has published, and a third straight month above the Reserve Bank's 4 percent target, with food again doing most of the pushing at 5.95 percent.
Last updated 7 October 20266 min read
Latest update
Adds the 7 October 2026 repo hike to 5.50 percent, the shift to calibrated tightening and RBI's raised 2026-27 CPI projection of 5.2 percent.
- CPI
- inflation
- MoSPI
- NSO
- CFPI
- base year 2024
- retail inflation
- food inflation
- inflation targeting
- 2024=100
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