Retail inflation in India rose to 5.54% in September 2026, while food inflation climbed to 7.74%, according to provisional data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The figures show that food prices continued to put pressure on household budgets.
The year-on-year retail inflation rate is based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), while food inflation is measured using the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI), both comparing September 2026 with the same month last year.
Retail inflation stood at 6.08% in rural areas in September, compared with 4.88% in urban areas. This indicates that price pressures were higher in rural India than in cities.
Food inflation was also higher in rural areas at 8.06%, while the urban rate stood at 7.18%. The all-India food inflation rate was 7.74% during the month.
The figures highlight the difference in price trends between rural and urban households, with rural areas recording higher inflation in both categories.
Onion recorded the highest inflation among the listed items in September, with prices rising 108.09% year-on-year. This was a sharp increase from 48.78% in August.
Silver jewellery inflation stood at 87.80%, although it was lower than the 106.81% recorded in August. Ginger prices rose 62.85%, while garlic inflation increased to 54.62% from 43.60% in the previous month. Lemon prices also saw a rise, with inflation reaching 36.41%.
On the other hand, some items continued to record negative inflation. Potato prices fell 11.50% year-on-year, while tomato prices declined 8.62%. Motor cars and jeeps, lady’s finger and coconut also recorded negative inflation in September.
MoSPI said price data were collected from 1,407 urban markets, including online markets, and 1,465 villages across states and Union Territories. The response rate was 100% in both rural and urban markets during September.