NEW DELHI, Mar 12: The retail inflation in India accelerated to a 10-month high of 3.2% in February 2026, driven up by inflation in the food and tobacco categories, the latest data shows.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released on Thursday by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation is the second edition of the new series of the Index, and so category-wise historical data is not yet available. However, the new series allows for a calculation of the headline inflation numbers from February 2021 onwards. The data shows CPI inflation was last higher in April 2025, when it was 3.3%.
Economists, however, warn that the ongoing disruption in fuel supplies due to the conflict in West Asia would likely push up inflation in March in the electricity, gas & other fuels, and restaurant & accommodation categories of the CPI.
“As expected, the uptick was almost entirely led by the food and beverages (F&B) segment, which accounted for as much as 44 basis points of the 47 basis points rise in the headline print between these months (January and February),” Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist at ICRA said. She added that core inflation, which excludes F&B and electricity, gas & other fuels remained unchanged at 3.4% between January and February 2026.
Inflation in the food and beverages category stood at 3.35% in February, up from 2.1% in January. The other category to see markedly higher inflation was ‘paan, tobacco and intoxicants’, which saw inflation quicken to 3.5% in February from 2.9% in January.
Notably, the new series also shows that inflation in the ‘personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods & services’ has remained above 19% in both January and February, largely driven by the higher prices of previous metals. That is, inflation in this category accelerated to 19.6% in February from 19.02% in January. This will be a factor that will continue to exert pressure in March, too, given the global uncertainty. The rupee depreciation would also add to this. Ms Nayar pointed to this playing out in March.
“The hike in prices of domestic (non-subsidised) and commercial LPG cylinder prices in early-March 2026 owing to global energy supply disruptions would exert upward pressure on inflation prints for the electricity, gas & other fuels, and restaurant & accommodation divisions in this month,” Ms Nayar said. “These, along with continued hardening in average prices of precious metals such as gold would push up the headline CPI inflation to around 3.3-3.5% in March 2026,” she added.
(Rohit Kumar)
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