Inflation for rural labourers (CPI-RL)
CPI-RL = Consumer Price Index for Rural Labourers- How often
- Every monthAbout the 20th of the following month
- Next release
- Fri 20 NovIn 8 days · expected · 5:00 PM
- Base year
- 2019 = 100
September 2026, up from 4.83% in August 2026.
Events on this chart
Source: Labour Bureau, released 19 Oct 2026 · Chart: Clarity UPSC
- Previous
- 4.83%Aug 2026
- Highest
- 5.98%Sep 2026
- Lowest
- −1.36%Oct 2025
16 readings since Jun 2025.
Story
Price rise for rural labourers' households.
What is happening now As of Sep 2026
Inflation for rural labourers rose to 5.98% in September 2026, from 4.83% in August. A year earlier, in September 2025, it was −0.07%, meaning their prices were then slightly lower than a year before. Food inflation for these households was 7.84%.
The all-India Consumer Price Index for Rural Labourers (CPI-RL) rose 1.38 points in the month to 144.58, and its food index rose 1.94 points to 147.52. Inflation for agricultural labourers, priced in the same villages, was a little higher, at 6.30%.
Why it matters
Rural labour households live on wage work, on farms and off them, and spend more than half of their budget on food. When food prices rise, the same day's wage buys less food.
The Consumer Price Index for Rural Labourers (CPI-RL) links prices to public spending on poor families. The cooking-cost norms of Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN), the school meal programme, are revised with it, so the money for each meal keeps pace with rural prices. Minimum-wage revisions also draw on it.
What it is
The Consumer Price Index for Rural Labourers (CPI-RL) follows the retail prices paid by rural labour households. A rural labour household earns more from wage-paid manual work, on farms or off them, than from a salaried job or self-employment. Every agricultural labour household is also a rural labour household. So CPI-RL covers the households of the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL) and adds those living on non-farm manual work.
The Labour Bureau compiles CPI-RL with CPI-AL, from prices at the markets serving the same 787 villages in 34 States and Union Territories. Field staff of the National Statistics Office (NSO) collect the prices every month. The base is 2019 since the June 2025 index, and the weights come from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey of 2011-12. Food carries 56.61% of the weight, slightly less than in CPI-AL.
Because food is more than half the basket, food prices drive most of its movement. CPI-RL is used to revise the cooking-cost norms of Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN), the school meal programme, because those costs follow the prices rural households pay. Minimum-wage revisions also draw on CPI-AL and CPI-RL.
Read this number
- The publisher
- The Labour Bureau, under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, compiles price indices for industrial, agricultural and rural workers.
Terms on this page (4)
- CPI
- Consumer Price Index
- CPI-AL
- Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers
- NSO
- National Statistics Office
- PM POSHAN
- Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman
History
- 1995The Consumer Price Index for Rural Labourers (CPI-RL) begins alongside the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL) on base 1986-87, adding rural households that live on non-farm manual work. Prices come from 600 villages in 20 States.
- 18 Jul 2025Base revised to 2019 from the June 2025 index. Coverage grows to 787 villages in 34 States/UTs, and item indices now use geometric means.
- 2026An Index Review Committee recommends keeping CPI-AL and CPI-RL as separate indices. Work on the next base is under way, with weights proposed from the 2023-24 consumption survey.
Readings
| Period | Value | Status | Released |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2026 | 5.98% | Final | 19 Oct 2026 |
| Aug 2026 | 4.83% | Final | 19 Oct 2026 |
| Jul 2026 | 4.27% | Final | 20 Aug 2026 |
| Jun 2026 | 4.13% | Final | 20 Aug 2026 |
| May 2026 | 3.71% | Final | 12 Nov 2026 |
| Apr 2026 | 3.11% | Final | 12 Nov 2026 |
| Mar 2026 | 2.92% | Final | 12 Nov 2026 |
| Feb 2026 | 2.37% | Final | 12 Nov 2026 |
| Jan 2026 | 1.47% | Final | 12 Nov 2026 |
| Dec 2025 | 0.11% | Final | 12 Nov 2026 |
| Nov 2025 | −0.47% | Final | 12 Nov 2026 |
| Oct 2025 | −1.36% | Final | 12 Nov 2026 |
For UPSC
The Labour Bureau publishes the Consumer Price Index for Rural Labourers (CPI-RL) with the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL) on base 2019 (since the June 2025 index). Know the three rural indices apart: CPI-AL covers farm labour households, CPI-RL all rural manual-labour households, and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Rural of the National Statistics Office (NSO) all rural households.