Retail inflation, rural (CPI-R)
CPI-R = Consumer Price Index (Rural)- How often
- Every monthWith the CPI: 12th of the following month, 4:00 PM
- Next release
- Mon 14 DecIn 32 days · 4:00 PM
- Base year
- 2024 = 100
October 2026, up from 6.08% in September 2026.
Above the RBI's 2–6% bandEvents on this chart
Source: NSO, MoSPI, released 12 Nov 2026 · Chart: Clarity UPSC
- Previous
- 6.08%Sep 2026
- Highest
- 8.66%Jan 2014
- Lowest
- −0.25%Oct 2025
Higher than 80% of the 152 readings since Jan 2014.
Story
How fast prices paid by rural households are rising.
What is happening now As of Oct 2026
Rural retail inflation rose to 6.63% in October 2026, from 6.08% in September. It was higher than urban inflation (5.41%) and the Combined Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate (6.09%). The Combined rate is the one the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) aims to keep within 2–6%. A year earlier, in October 2025, rural inflation was −0.25%, measured on the earlier 2012-base series.
Rural food inflation was 9.09%. In the rural index, food and beverages rose 8.70% and restaurant and accommodation services 10.24%. On 7 October 2026 the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) raised the repo rate by 0.25 percentage point to 5.50%. It said a deficient monsoon and strong El Niño conditions posed risks to the farm sector and rural demand, while healthy foodgrain stocks and government action were expected to soften the impact.
Why it matters
Rural households give food a larger share of their budget than urban households: food and beverages carry 41.98% of the rural weight, against 30.25% in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Urban. So when food prices jump, rural inflation rises faster, and village budgets are squeezed first.
Rural inflation is part of the Combined CPI, which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) aims to keep at 4%, within a band of 2–6%. Set beside CPI Urban, it shows whether price pressure is heavier in villages or in towns.
What it is
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) Rural follows the retail prices that rural households pay for a basket of goods and services. The National Statistics Office (NSO) publishes it every month with CPI Urban and CPI Combined. The Combined index is the weighted average of the rural and urban indices.
The current series has base 2024, and its weights come from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24. Field staff of the NSO's Field Operations Division collect prices every month from markets in 1,465 villages, using handheld tablets. Food and beverages carry 41.98% of the rural weight, against 30.25% in CPI Urban.
Because food is a larger share of rural spending, food prices move rural inflation more than urban inflation. The 2024 series also prices rural house rent for the first time; rent carries about 2.5% of the rural weight.
Read this number
- The publisher
- The National Statistics Office is the statistics arm of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. It compiles GDP, CPI, IIP and the labour force survey.
- Release rule
- With the CPI: 12th of the following month, 4:00 PM IST; next working day if the 12th is a holiday
Terms on this page (8)
- CPI
- Consumer Price Index
- CPI-AL
- Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers
- CPI-RL
- Consumer Price Index for Rural Labourers
- HCES
- Household Consumption Expenditure Survey
- MoSPI
- Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
- MPC
- Monetary Policy Committee
- NSO
- National Statistics Office
- RBI
- Reserve Bank of India
History
- 2011The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) starts the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Rural, Urban and Combined, with base 2010.
- 12 Feb 2015Base revised to 2012 from the January 2015 index, with weights from the 2011-12 consumer expenditure survey.
- 12 Feb 2026New series with base 2024 from January 2026. Weights come from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2023-24, and rural house rent enters the index for the first time.
Readings
| Period | Value | Status | Released |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2026 | 6.63% | Provisional | 12 Nov 2026 |
| Sep 2026 | 6.08% | Final | 12 Nov 2026 |
| Aug 2026 | 5.24%revised from 5.23% | Final | 12 Oct 2026 |
| Jul 2026 | 4.84% | Final | 14 Sep 2026 |
| Jun 2026 | 4.74% | Final | 12 Aug 2026 |
| May 2026 | 4.25% | Final | 13 Jul 2026 |
| Apr 2026 | 3.74% | Final | 12 Jun 2026 |
| Mar 2026 | 3.63% | Final | 12 May 2026 |
| Feb 2026 | 3.37% | Final | 13 Apr 2026 |
| Jan 2026 | 2.73% | Final | 12 Mar 2026 |
| Dec 2025 | 0.76% | Final | 12 Nov 2026 |
| Nov 2025 | 0.10% | Final | 12 Nov 2026 |
For UPSC
Know that the National Statistics Office (NSO) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) publishes the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Rural, Urban and Combined on base 2024, with weights from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2023-24. The 4% inflation target of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) uses the Combined CPI. Food weighs more in the rural basket than in the urban one.