Inflation has risen in every month of 2026

The essentials

The consumer price index measures what a household pays for a fixed basket of goods and services. The Ministry of Statistics publishes it once a month, and the rate of inflation is how much higher the index is than in the same month a year before.

Eight months, eight rises

The all-items rate climbed from 2.74 per cent in January to 4.82 per cent in August 2026, and the food rate from 2.13 per cent to 5.95 per cent. The food rate crossed the Reserve Bank's 4 per cent target in April 2026 and the all-items rate crossed it in June 2026, and both have stayed above it since. The August 2026 rate is the highest in 20 months, and the food rate the highest in 19 months.

The village and the town

The rural rate has been above the urban rate in every month since February 2026, and in August 2026 it was 5.23 per cent against 4.31 per cent, which is a gap of 0.92 percentage points. Rural food prices rose 6.13 per cent, while urban food prices rose 5.64 per cent.

The divisions above the target

Five divisions of the basket rose faster than the Reserve Bank's 4 per cent target, and three of them rose faster than the headline rate of 4.82 per cent. Personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services rose 15.17 per cent. Inside that division, the Ministry's group of other personal effects, which holds jewellery, rose 44.56 per cent. The Ministry's release lists silver jewellery at 107.11 per cent and gold, diamond and platinum jewellery at 35.53 per cent among its five items with the highest rates. Restaurants and accommodation services rose 8.38 per cent and food and beverages 5.66 per cent. Paan, tobacco and intoxicants and transport also rose faster than the target.

The items that rose most

Of the 358 items the Ministry prices, 88 rose faster than the headline rate in the year to August 2026. Ginger rose 73.82 per cent, onion 48.27 per cent and garlic 43.60 per cent. The Reserve Bank's resolution of 7 October 2026 says: "Food price increases have become more broad based along with notable spikes in certain items such as sugar and onion".

Source: MoSPI press release, 14 September 2026, CPI for August 2026 ↗.

Six measures, one month

The Government publishes six consumer price indices for the same month: the Ministry's rural, urban and all-India combined indices, and the Labour Bureau's three for industrial workers, agricultural labourers and rural labourers. In August 2026 the rural household's rate was the highest, at 5.23 per cent, and even the urban household's rate, at 4.31 per cent, was above the Reserve Bank's 4 per cent target. The agricultural labourer's rate was 5.18 per cent, and the industrial worker's was 4.96 per cent, while the rural labourer's was 4.83 per cent.

On food the agricultural labourer's index rose 6.41 per cent, which was the highest of the five rates published, and the rural household's rose 6.13 per cent, while the urban household's rose 5.64 per cent.

Source: MoSPI press release, 14 September 2026, CPI for August 2026 ↗; Labour Bureau press release, 18 September 2026, CPI-AL and CPI-RL for August 2026 ↗.

What the September figure would be the highest since

August's 4.82 per cent is already the highest rate in 20 months. Any September figure above it makes eleven months of rising inflation in a row, and the highest rate since December 2024. A figure above 5.22 per cent would be the highest since November 2024, and one above 5.48 per cent the highest since October 2024. At 6.0 per cent the rate reaches the Reserve Bank's upper limit, and 6.0 per cent is what the Bank itself projects for the quarter after September's, which is October to December 2026.

A food bill, a year on

Food that cost Rs 10,000 in August 2025 cost Rs 10,595 in August 2026, because the Ministry's combined food rate is 5.95 per cent. A village household, whose food prices rose 6.13 per cent, paid Rs 10,613 for the same food, and a farm labourer's household, whose food index rose 6.41 per cent, paid Rs 10,641. Each figure is the same bill multiplied by one published rate.

The three figures use the published food rates and nothing else. What a particular family pays depends on what it buys and where it buys it, so its own bill can differ from these figures.

Ten months of rising inflation, and every figure is the Government's own.

Terms, explained

Consumer price index

The consumer price index measures what a household pays for a fixed basket of goods and services. The Ministry of Statistics publishes it once a month, and the rate of inflation is how much higher the index is than in the same month a year before.

Rate of inflation

The percentage by which the index is higher than it was in the same month a year before. A rate of 4.82 per cent means that prices are 4.82 per cent higher than they were a year ago.

Consumer Food Price Index

The food part of the index. On the 2024 base it is the Food group, which carries the items a household eats at home.

Base year

The year whose prices are set at 100. The Ministry moved to the 2024 base in February 2026 and publishes a back series on it from 2013.

CPI-IW, CPI-AL and CPI-RL

The Labour Bureau's indices for industrial workers, agricultural labourers and rural labourers, each pricing the basket of that kind of household.

Tolerance band

The Reserve Bank's target is 4 per cent, and it may let the rate move between 2 and 6 per cent.

Repo rate

The rate at which the Reserve Bank lends to banks. Raising it makes borrowing dearer across the economy.

Provisional

The Ministry marks the latest month's figure provisional and finalises it a month later.

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Sources & method

The Ministry of Statistics publishes the consumer price index on the 2024 base each month, in its press release and through its eSankhyiki interface, which this brief read on 11 October 2026, when the August figures were the latest. This office checked the rates for February to August 2026 against the Ministry's press release of each month, and every one agreed; January's 2.74 per cent is the figure the Ministry printed in its Lok Sabha answer of 29 July 2026. To get the rate of inflation, divide the index by the index of twelve months earlier and subtract one. The run of rises counts the consecutive months in which the Ministry's published rate was higher than in the month before, and it uses each month's rate on the base that the Ministry published it on. The Labour Bureau's indices come from the press releases that it issued on 18 and 30 September 2026, and the older months come from the Reserve Bank's Database on Indian Economy, which copies the Bureau.

The Ministry says that a direct comparison of its 2024 series with its 2012 series is not feasible, and it publishes a back series on the 2024 base from January 2013 to December 2024, whose monthly rates are the same as the 2012 series it printed at the time. Where this brief says a rate is the highest in so many months, or counts a run of rises, it reads each month's headline rate on the base the Ministry published it on, which is the 2024 base from January 2026 and the 2012 base before that. The months of 2022 to 2024 that the ladder names carry the same rates on the Ministry's back series. This office also recomputed the rates of 2025 on the Ministry's two 2024-base index series alone, dividing each month's current-series index by the back-series index of the same month a year earlier, and on that reading too the run is 10 months from October 2025 and August 2026 is the highest since December 2024. The food rate before 2026 is the Ministry's Consumer Food Price Index on the 2012 base, for which no back series exists, and the comparison with January 2025 rests on a margin of 0.02 points.

1. MoSPI press release, 14 September 2026, CPI for August 2026 ↗.
2. MoSPI eSankhyiki interface, CPI base 2024, read 11 October 2026 ↗.
3. MoSPI eSankhyiki interface, back series 2013 to 2024, read 11 October 2026 ↗.
4. MoSPI eSankhyiki interface, CPI base 2012, read 11 October 2026 ↗.
5. MoSPI eSankhyiki interface, CPI base 2010, read 11 October 2026 ↗.
6. RBI DBIE, CPI Rural, Urban and Combined, read 11 October 2026 ↗.
7. RBI DBIE, other consumer price indices, read 11 October 2026 ↗.
8. Labour Bureau press release, 30 September 2026, CPI-IW for August 2026 ↗.
9. Labour Bureau press release, 18 September 2026, CPI-AL and CPI-RL for August 2026 ↗.
10. Labour Bureau, CPI-IW release calendar for 2026 ↗.
11. RBI Monetary Policy Committee resolution, 7 October 2026 ↗.
12. RBI Handbook of Statistics 2025-26, Table 34 and its notes ↗.
13. MoSPI Lok Sabha answer, 29 July 2026, on the revised CPI base ↗.