Consumer prices were 4.8% higher than a year earlier in Aug 2026.

That is up from 0.0% in Oct 2025, the lowest of the last two years. The series begins at 8.5% in Jan 2014. Its highest since January 2020 was 7.8% in Apr 2022. Over the twelve months to Aug 2026, the yearly rate averaged 2.8%.

Where it is coming from

By category, prices rose fastest in personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services, at 15.2%. Food and beverages were up 5.7%.

• Personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services: 15.2%
• Restaurants and accommodation services: 8.4%
• Food and beverages: 5.7%
• Paan, tobacco and intoxicants: 4.7%
• Transport: 4.6%
• Education services: 3.7%
• Clothing and footwear: 3.6%
• Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance: 2.7%
• Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels: 2.6%
• Information and communication: 2.0%
• Recreation, sport and culture: 1.7%
• Health: 1.3%

Rates for Aug 2026, highest first. MoSPI’s categories exist only on its newest base, so these start in Jan 2026 and do not yet have a longer history.

Against the repo rate

RBI’s repo rate has been 5.25% since 5 Dec 2025. Against 4.82% inflation in Aug 2026, that is 0.43 points above the rate of price rises. This subtracts one published figure from another; the repo rate is not what any borrower or saver is paid.

What this can and cannot tell you

This is the Consumer Price Index for all of India, rural and urban together, as MoSPI publishes it on its 2024 base. It is not the index for industrial workers that the pay pages use as their deflator, so the two will not agree month to month. The all-items series joins MoSPI’s back series (2013 to 2024) and its current series (from 2025), which are the same base. We calculate each year-on-year rate from the index. For 2026, inside the current series, it matches the rate MoSPI publishes to within 0.02 of a point.

Inflation is the change in a fixed basket’s price, so it says nothing about any one household’s costs. Food, fuel and rent weigh differently for different households. The index is revised only rarely, and MoSPI can change its basket at the next base change.

How this is worked out

Each period's value divided by the value of the same period a year earlier, less one, as a percentage.

cpi-combined-2024-back-general up to the year before Jan 2025, then cpi-combined-2024-current-general, which are the back and current series of one base year.

Where the numbers come from

• Consumer Price Index, base 2024, back series

  • Fetched automatically

  Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). Retrieved 29 September 2026. Source page.

  • MoSPI National Statistics Office (CPI)
  • All-India index for rural and urban areas combined. This is not the CPI-IW that the project uses as its deflator.

• Consumer Price Index, base 2024, current series

  • Fetched automatically

  Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). Retrieved 29 September 2026. Source page.

  • MoSPI National Statistics Office (CPI)
  • All-India index for rural and urban areas combined. This is not the CPI-IW that the project uses as its deflator.

• Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy, Table 40: Major Monetary Policy Rates and Reserve Requirements - Bank Rate, LAF (Repo, Reverse Repo, SDF and MSF) Rates, CRR & SLR

  • Fetched automatically

  Reserve Bank of India. Retrieved 29 September 2026. Source page.

  • Reserve Bank of India
  • RBI's table was dated Jul 31, 2026. It lists changes only, so the series starts at the first change the table shows.
  • The last rate is shown as holding to 29 Sep 2026, when the table was retrieved.