India's retail inflation or Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation recorded at 3.21% in February 2026, higher than the previous month according to data released by The Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI) on Thursday.
According to Bloomberg estimates, CPI data for the month of February was expected to be recorded at 3.14%. Retail inflation in Feb 2026 rose to the highest level since April 2025.
Notably, this is the second month that the inflation was recorded under the new series, and before the on-going war in the Middle East began.
"Looking ahead, geopolitical tensions in West Asia could add fresh upside risks through higher crude oil prices and a weaker rupee, potentially feeding imported inflation. However, inflation remains within the policy tolerance band, and in the near term the RBI is likely to maintain a cautious, data-dependent stance while using liquidity and forex tools to manage volatility," remarked Vivek Rathi, National Director- Research of Knight Frank India.
In January, the retail inflation stood at 2.75%, as per data compiled under the new CPI series, where the base year was moved to 2024 from 2012.
India's Feb CPI food inflation stood at 3.47% up from 2.13% in Jan. Inflation for the food & beverages segment stood at 3.35%.
Core inflation, which excludes the volatile food and fuel prices, was steady at 2.4%. Urban inflation rose to 3.02% from 2.75% in Jan. Similarly, rurual inflation also went up to 3.37% in Feb from 2.73% in Jan.
Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel prices stood at 1.52%. Inflation in clothing and footwear prices was recorded at 2.81%, prices for intoxicants such as paan, tobacco stood at 3.49%.
In the commodities and vegetable basket, highest price rises were clocked by silver jewellery (at 160.84%), Gold/diamond/platinum jewellery (48.16%), Coconut (46.16%), Tomato (45.29%), and Cauliflower (43.77)
Whereas, prices of garlic, onion, potato, arhar or tur pulse, and litchi edged lower in February.
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