Key Details
The NSO’s September 2026 Consumer Price Index (CPI) release, using 2024 as its base year, reports year-on-year price changes. September figures are provisional; August figures are final.
Indicator | August 2026 | September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
Headline CPI inflation | 4.83% | 5.54% |
Consumer Food Price Index inflation | 5.97% | 7.74% |
Rural headline inflation | 5.24% | 6.08% |
Urban headline inflation | 4.31% | 4.88% |
In September, onion prices were 108.09% higher than a year earlier; ginger, garlic and lemon also recorded high inflation. Potato and tomato prices remained below their year-earlier levels.
Food Prices Rose Faster, but Not Uniformly
Headline inflation increased by 0.71 percentage points from August to September, while food inflation rose by 1.77 percentage points. Food was a prominent source of price pressure, though the release does not quantify its contribution to the change in headline inflation.
The contrast within the food basket is substantial. Onion inflation rose from 48.78% in August to 108.09% in September, while garlic reached 54.62% and lemon 36.41%. At the same time, potato and tomato prices were 11.50% and 8.62% lower, respectively, than a year earlier. The September reading therefore does not describe a uniform rise across food items.
Rural Households Faced Higher Measured Inflation
Rural headline inflation was 6.08%, compared with 4.88% in urban areas. Rural food inflation was also higher, at 8.06% against 7.18%. The difference extended to clothing and footwear, where inflation was 4.55% rural and 2.90% urban.
State figures show further variation. Among states with populations above 50 lakh, Tamil Nadu recorded 6.81% headline inflation, followed by Odisha at 6.70% and Madhya Pradesh at 6.68%. These figures identify where measured price pressures were higher; they do not, by themselves, establish the causes of each state’s increase.
Price Pressures Extended Beyond Groceries
Among the CPI’s broad expenditure divisions, personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services recorded the highest inflation, at 13.75%. Within that division, the more specific “other personal effects” group rose 38.69%; silver jewellery was among the individual items with the highest inflation.
Restaurants and accommodation services rose 9.36%, largely reflecting 9.39% inflation in food and beverage serving services rather than accommodation, which rose 2.43%. By contrast, health inflation was 1.40%. The breadth and composition of these differences matter more than a ranking of divisions alone.
Policy Relevance
The September figures call for item-level food price monitoring: exceptionally high onion inflation sits alongside falling year-on-year potato and tomato prices, so the appropriate supply-side assessment will differ by commodity. The rural–urban and state gaps also make the national average an incomplete guide to where households face the greatest measured pressure.
For monetary policy, the release establishes that headline and food inflation increased. Whether those pressures persist or spread more widely will require subsequent readings and a closer look at the CPI components; one provisional month does not settle that question.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: Are September’s sharp food-price increases concentrated in a few commodities, or are they becoming a sustained and broader source of household inflation?
Follow the Full Data Release Here: NSO Consumer Price Index Release for September 2026