India’s retail inflation rose to 4.82% in August 2026 from a final 4.45% reading in July, according to the National Statistics Office’s Consumer Price Index release. The August figure is provisional.
The headline number is a year-on-year rate. It compares the price level measured by the CPI in August 2026 with August 2025. It does not mean that a typical household’s total costs rose by 4.82% in one month.
Rural inflation remained higher than urban inflation
The official data put rural headline inflation at 5.23% in August, compared with 4.31% in urban areas. Both were higher than their final July rates of 4.84% and 3.96%, respectively.
The All-India combined CPI index reached 108.74 on the new 2024=100 base. An index level shows the basket’s level relative to the base period. It should not be read as an 8.74% rise during August.
Food inflation reached 5.95%
The Consumer Food Price Index showed 5.95% year-on-year inflation, up from a final 5.52% in July. Rural food inflation was 6.13%, compared with 5.64% in urban areas.
A national food rate does not mean every item moved together. Among items highlighted by the government, onion prices were 48.27% higher than a year earlier and ginger prices were up 73.82%. Tomato prices were 31.09% lower, while potato prices were 13.14% lower.
These item-level rates are not a ranking of how much each item contributed to the overall CPI. Basket weights differ, and the headline rate combines many goods and services.
The wider basket shows uneven pressure
Food and beverages recorded combined inflation of 5.66%. Restaurants and accommodation services were at 8.38%, while the broad division covering personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services was at 15.17%.
Other broad divisions were lower. Health inflation was 1.34%, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels was 2.61%, and information and communication was 2.01%.
The contrast shows why a single headline rate cannot describe every part of the basket. Categories carry different weights, and rural and urban indices are compiled separately.
How to read the provisional release
The National Statistics Office collected real-time prices from 1,407 selected urban markets, including online markets, and 1,465 selected villages across India. For those selected locations, it reported a 100% response rate in both rural and urban markets during August.
The August indices nevertheless remain provisional. The release also cautions that some state-level item indices can rely on thin samples of price quotations. Published index figures are rounded to two decimal places, although calculations use the underlying unrounded values.
The useful takeaway is direction, not a claim that every price rose. The year-on-year national rate was higher than in July, food inflation was above the headline rate, and rural inflation remained above urban inflation. The next monthly CPI release is scheduled for 12 October 2026, or the next working day if that date is a holiday.
