Food inflation (CFPI)
CFPI = Consumer Food Price Index- 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 7.74% in September 2026.
Events on this chart
Source: NSO, MoSPI, released 12 Nov 2026 · Chart: Clarity UPSC
- Previous
- 7.74%Sep 2026
- Highest
- 14.19%Dec 2019
- Lowest
- −5.02%Oct 2025
Higher than 88% of the 153 readings since Jan 2014.
Story
How fast the food prices households pay are rising, compared with the same month last year.
What is happening now As of Oct 2026
Food inflation rose to 8.94% in October 2026, from 7.74% in September. Rural food inflation was 9.09% and urban 8.68%. A year earlier, in October 2025, the rate was −5.02%, meaning food prices were then lower than a year before (earlier 2012-base series).
The National Statistics Office (NSO) listed onion (116.22%), garlic (60.74%), ginger (48.32%) and lemon (47.30%) among the items with the highest inflation. Potato (−14.24%), cauliflower, coconut, brinjal and cabbage were cheaper than a year earlier.
In its policy statement on 7 October 2026, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said food price increases had become more broad-based, with spikes in items such as sugar and onion. It expected supply pressure to continue because of the deficient monsoon and El Niño conditions. Its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) raised the repo rate by 0.25 percentage point to 5.50%.
Why it matters
Food is the largest part of what Indian households buy. Food and beverages carry about 37% of the weight in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and about 42% in the rural index. When food prices jump, families spend more on meals and have less left for everything else, and poorer families feel it first.
Food prices move headline retail inflation, which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) aims to keep at 4%. Interest rates cannot make a harvest bigger. The RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) says that against such supply-driven inflation, monetary policy works mainly by stopping it from spreading into what households expect and how firms set their prices.
What it is
The Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) follows the food items in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket: cereals, pulses, vegetables, fruit, milk, eggs, meat and fish, edible oils, sugar and spices.
Food prices swing with harvests, rainfall, stocks and global commodity prices. A poor harvest can push food inflation well above headline inflation.
Food inflation is the year-on-year change in this index. The National Statistics Office (NSO) releases it with the CPI.
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.
- Released with
- CPI, 12th of the following month
- 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 (5)
- CPI
- Consumer Price Index
- MPC
- Monetary Policy Committee
- NSO
- National Statistics Office
- RBI
- Reserve Bank of India
- WPI
- Wholesale Price Index
History
- 2026Moved to base 2024 with the new Consumer Price Index (CPI) series in January 2026.
Readings
| Period | Value | Status | Released |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2026 | 8.94% | Provisional | 12 Nov 2026 |
| Sep 2026 | 7.74% | Final | 12 Nov 2026 |
| Aug 2026 | 5.97%revised from 5.95% | Final | 12 Oct 2026 |
| Jul 2026 | 5.52% | Final | 14 Sep 2026 |
| Jun 2026 | 5.32% | Final | 12 Aug 2026 |
| May 2026 | 4.78% | Final | 13 Jul 2026 |
| Apr 2026 | 4.20% | Final | 12 Jun 2026 |
| Mar 2026 | 3.87% | Final | 12 May 2026 |
| Feb 2026 | 3.47% | Final | 13 Apr 2026 |
| Jan 2026 | 2.13% | Final | 12 Mar 2026 |
| Dec 2025 | −2.71% | Final | 12 Nov 2026 |
| Nov 2025 | −3.91% | Final | 12 Nov 2026 |
For UPSC
Food inflation links prices to agriculture, the monsoon, buffer stocks and supply chains. Know its weight in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket and how it differs from the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) food index.