ECONOMY
January CPI inflation rises to 2.75% with new base year series, food weightage slashed
- IBJ Bureau
- Feb 13, 2026
Retail inflation for January 2026 has risen to 2.75 per cent, with recent introduction of a new series of Consumer Price Index (CPI) parameters.
The new series covers a higher number of goods and services and re-aligns the weightage of various constituents. Along with data collected from more rural and urban markets, the reading is expected to reflect the quality of data used in formulating monetary and fiscal policies.
The data has been released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Addressing a press conference on the data release, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran has said that the new CPI series will improve the quality of data used in formulating monetary and fiscal policies.
The new index will reflect changes in spending patterns since the last overhaul was done more than a decade ago.
Food inflation for January has worked out to be 2.13 per cent and housing at 2.05 per cent.
The retail inflation, under the old series with base year 2012, was 4.26 per cent in January 2025 and 1.33 per cent in December.
Base has been revised from 2012 to 2024 using the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24.
In the new series, coverage has widened to 358 items from 299 –including 308 goods and 50 services – with price data now collected from 1,465 rural and 1,395 urban markets as well as 12 online marketplaces.
The new CPI series expands classification from six to 12 groups, adding several standalone categories to provide greater granularity.
The weight of food and beverages has been reduced to 36.75 per cent from 45.86 per cent, potentially lowering headline volatility. Housing, now has been expanded to include utilities, carrying a 17.67 per cent weight.
The newly-delineated groups include furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (4.47 per cent weight), health (6.1 per cent), transport (8.8 per cent), information and communication (3.61 per cent), recreation, sports and culture (1.52 per cent), education services (3.33 per cent), restaurants and accommodation services (3.35 per cent) and personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services (5.04 per cent).
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