India’s consumer price index rose 3.21% year-on-year in February 2026, up from 2.74% in January and roughly in line with market expectations of 3.1%. This marked the fastest pace of inflation in 11 months. The acceleration largely reflected a normalization in price growth after declines in food costs had pushed the headline rate toward record lows late last year.
Food inflation picked up to 3.47% in February from 2.13% in the previous month. Prices also increased solidly in several key categories, including restaurants and accommodation (2.73%), clothing and footwear (2.81%), and paan and tobacco (3.49%). By contrast, transportation prices edged down 0.05%, driven by lower oil and gas costs in the wholesale market—though these are expected to rise in March amid the ongoing war in the Persian Gulf. On a month-on-month basis, overall consumer prices were up 0.11%.
