Retail inflation rises to 4.82% in August as food inflation climbs to 5.95% | Economy & Policy News

India’s retail inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose to 4.82 per cent in August 2026 from 4.45 per cent in July, according to provisional data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

The August inflation reading is based on the CPI series with 2024 as the base year. Rural inflation rose to 5.23 per cent from 4.84 per cent in July, while urban inflation increased to 4.31 per cent from 3.96 per cent.

The All India CPI stood at 108.74 in August, compared with 107.95 in July. The rural CPI increased to 109.27 from 108.34, while the urban index rose to 108.07 from 107.45.

Food inflation, measured by the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI), rose to 5.95 per cent in August from 5.52 per cent in July. Rural food inflation stood at 6.13 per cent, while urban food inflation was 5.64 per cent.

Among major divisions, personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services recorded inflation of 15.17 per cent in August. Restaurants and accommodation services recorded inflation of 8.38 per cent, while food and beverages inflation stood at 5.66 per cent.

Transport inflation stood at 4.60 per cent, followed by paan, tobacco and intoxicants at 4.71 per cent, education services at 3.73 per cent, and clothing and footwear at 3.56 per cent. Health inflation was 1.34 per cent.

At the individual-item level, silver jewellery recorded inflation of 107.11 per cent in August, followed by ginger at 73.82 per cent and onion at 48.27 per cent. Garlic inflation stood at 43.60 per cent, while gold, diamond and platinum jewellery recorded inflation of 35.53 per cent.

In contrast, tomato prices recorded inflation of minus 31.09 per cent, while potato prices recorded minus 13.14 per cent. Motor cars and jeeps recorded minus 6.72 per cent, lady’s finger minus 5.41 per cent, and parwal, patal and kundru minus 3.60 per cent.

Among states with a population of more than 5 million, Telangana recorded headline inflation of 6.27 per cent, followed by Tamil Nadu at 5.92 per cent, Madhya Pradesh at 5.55 per cent, Andhra Pradesh at 5.53 per cent and Odisha at 5.52 per cent.

MoSPI said the response rate for price collection during August was 100 per cent in both rural and urban markets.