India Consumer Price Index (CPI) Inflation at 3.40% in March 2026 (Provisional)

Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation

PRESS RELEASE OF CONSUMER PRICE INDEX ON BASE 2024=100 FOR MARCH, 2026

Posted On: 13 APR 2026 4:00PM by PIB Delhi

Key Statistics

National Level Indices

Year-on-year inflation rate based on All India Consumer Price Index (CPI) with base year 2024 for the month of March, 2026 over March, 2025 is 3.40%(Provisional). Corresponding inflation rates for rural and urban are 3.63% and 3.11%, respectively.

		March, 2026 (Provisional)			February, 2026 (Final)
		Rural	Urban	Combined	Rural	Urban	Combined
Inflation (%)	CPI (General)	3.63	3.11	3.40	3.37	3.02	3.21
Inflation (%)	CFPI	3.96	3.71	3.87	3.46	3.48	3.47
Index	CPI (General)	105.01	104.62	104.84	104.74	104.36	104.57
Index	CFPI	104.01	104.38	104.14	103.79	104.04	103.88

Food Inflation: – Year-on-year inflation rate based on All India Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) for the month of March, 2026 over March, 2025 is 3.87% (Provisional). Corresponding inflation rates for rural and urban are 3.96% and 3.71%, respectively.

cpi_based_inflation

Housing Inflation: – Year-on-year Housing inflation rate for the month of March, 2026 is 2.11% (Provisional) and the corresponding inflation rates for rural and urban are 2.54% and 1.95%, respectively.

At National level, division wise inflation for the month of March, 2026 in the Combined sector may be seen from the graph below-

national_level_division_wise_inflation_rate

Top 5 key items with low inflation at All India combined level in March, 2026 are given in table below:

S.No.	Item	Weight	Inflation (%) February, 2026	Inflation (%) March, 2026
1	Onion	0.7006	-28.20	-27.76
2	Potato	0.7549	-18.47	-18.98
3	Garlic	0.3738	-31.10	-10.18
4	Arhar, Tur	0.5333	-16.00	-9.56
5	Peas, chickpeas	0.0516	-8.26	-7.87

Top 5 key items with high inflation at All India combined level in March, 2026 are given in table below:

S.No.	Item	Weight	Inflation (%) February, 2026	Inflation (%) March, 2026
1	Silver Jewellery	0.3127	160.88	148.61
2	Gold/Diamond/Platinum Jewellery	0.6230	48.17	45.92
3	Coconut: copra	0.0854	46.16	45.52
4	Tomato	0.4961	45.18	35.99
5	Cauliflower	0.2330	43.76	34.11

State level Indices

Top five States (having more than 50 lakhs population as per Census 2011) with highest inflation in March, 2026 are given below-

top_five_states

February 2026 (Final) figures for CPI base 2024=100

All India CPI, CFPI and corresponding inflation rates for the month of February 2026 (Final) with base year 2024 are given as follows-

		February, 2026 (Final) at Base 2024=100
		Rural	Urban	Combined
Inflation (%)	CPI (General)	3.37	3.02	3.21
Inflation (%)	CFPI	3.46	3.48	3.47
Index	CPI (General)	104.74	104.36	104.57
Index	CFPI	103.79	104.04	103.88

III. Response Rate- Real time price data are collected from selected 1407 urban Markets (including online markets) and 1465 villages covering all States/UTs through personal visits by field staff of Field Operations Division of NSO, MoSPI on a weekly roster. During the month of March, 2026, prices were collected from 100% rural and urban markets while the market-wise prices reported therein were 99.93% for rural markets and 100% for urban markets.

CPI for April 2026 will be released on 12th May, 2026 (Tuesday) or the next working day in case of 12th being a holiday.

State and Item wise indices for March 2026 may be downloaded from eSankhyiki portal of MoSPI- https://esankhyiki.mospi.gov.in/

State-level item indices, available on the portal, should be interpreted cautiously in view of thin samples of price used for index compilation in some of the cases.

Indices at all levels and inflation rates are compiled using the actual index values. However, the indices published are rounded to two decimal places. Therefore, higher-level indices, if calculated from the published indices may not match exactly.

IV. Annexures

Annexure	Title
I	All India General (Rural, Urban and Combined) division wise indices and inflation for March, 2026 (Provisional)
II	All India General (Rural, Urban and Combined) group wise indices and inflation for March, 2026 (Provisional)
III	State wise general index and inflation in March, 2026 (Provisional)
IV	All India Combined (General) level index and inflation

Annexure- I

All India General (Rural, Urban and Combined) division wise indices and inflation for March, 2026 (Provisional)

Division code	Division name	Index			Inflation
Division code	Division name	Rural	Urban	Comb.	Rural	Urban	Comb.
01	Food and beverages	104.00	104.31	104.12	3.81	3.53	3.71
02	Paan, tobacco and intoxicants	106.30	106.41	106.33	4.15	4.42	4.23
03	Clothing and footwear	107.12	105.19	106.39	3.17	2.06	2.75
04	Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels	103.07	102.46	102.69	2.14	1.87	1.97
05	Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance	103.53	103.03	103.32	1.60	1.11	1.39
06	Health	103.75	104.43	104.01	1.65	1.92	1.75
07	Transport	100.76	100.69	100.73	0.01	-0.01	0.00
08	Information and communication	103.74	103.13	103.47	0.44	0.19	0.33
09	Recreation, sport and culture	104.06	104.19	104.13	2.08	2.49	2.28
10	Education services	104.79	105.83	105.42	2.95	3.53	3.30
11	Restaurants and accommodation services	105.52	107.06	106.34	2.36	3.35	2.88
13	Personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services	124.91	123.11	124.13	19.55	17.46	18.65
	All India	105.01	104.62	104.84	3.63	3.11	3.40

Note: Comb.: Combined

Annexure- II

All India General (Rural, Urban and Combined) group wise indices and inflation for March, 2026 (Provisional)

Group code	Group name	Index			Inflation
Group code	Group name	Rural	Urban	Comb.	Rural	Urban	Comb.
01.1	Food	104.01	104.38	104.14	3.96	3.71	3.87
01.2	Beverages	103.47	103.11	103.31	0.82	0.63	0.74
01.3	Services for processing primary goods for food	106.55	106.95	106.67	2.88	3.53	3.07
02.1	Alcoholic beverages	106.07	105.39	105.85	3.37	2.79	3.18
02.3	Paan and tobacco	106.50	107.47	106.78	4.84	6.14	5.22
03.1	Clothing	107.63	105.84	106.95	3.59	2.61	3.22
03.2	Footwear	103.78	101.12	102.74	0.41	-1.43	-0.31
04.1	Actual rental payments made for housing	103.10	102.67	102.77	2.36	1.90	2.00
04.3	Maintenance, repair and security of the dwelling	105.68	104.99	105.43	3.30	3.07	3.22
04.4	Water supply and miscellaneous services relating to the dwelling	100.94	102.33	101.91	0.57	1.64	1.31
04.5	Electricity, gas and other fuels	102.49	101.14	101.96	1.73	1.53	1.65
05.1	Furniture, furnishings, and loose carpets	105.23	104.30	104.88	2.47	1.84	2.23
05.2	Household textiles	106.15	103.97	105.33	2.90	0.99	2.18
05.3	Household appliances	101.95	100.75	101.39	0.43	-0.69	-0.09
05.4	Glassware, tableware and household utensils	106.59	105.10	106.02	3.48	2.06	2.94
05.5	Tools and equipment for house and garden	98.67	99.17	98.83	-1.85	-0.39	-1.37
05.6	Goods and services for routine household maintenance	102.94	103.36	103.13	1.45	1.54	1.49
06.1	Medicines and health products	104.65	104.58	104.62	2.12	1.62	1.93
06.2	Outpatient care services	101.80	104.24	102.79	0.68	2.42	1.39
06.3	Inpatient care services	102.42	105.23	103.59	0.70	3.32	1.79
06.4	Other health services	102.35	103.19	102.67	1.01	1.63	1.24
07.1	Purchase of vehicles	97.56	96.89	97.22	-4.56	-4.91	-4.74
07.2	Operation of personal transport equipment	100.04	100.06	100.05	0.10	0.11	0.10
07.3	Passenger transport services	103.34	104.12	103.67	1.63	2.44	1.98
07.4	Transport services for goods	107.63	107.76	107.71	7.43	7.62	7.55
08.1	Information and communication equipment	98.40	97.56	98.01	-1.19	-1.89	-1.51
08.3	Information and communication services	105.18	104.78	105.01	0.85	0.78	0.82
09.1	Recreational durables	98.88	100.79	100.22	-0.41	0.49	0.22
09.2	Other recreational goods	105.18	105.13	105.16	2.53	2.35	2.46
09.3	Garden products and pets	114.31	114.15	114.22	7.60	9.25	8.47
09.4	Recreational services	102.84	102.07	102.38	1.57	1.35	1.44
09.5	Cultural goods	102.47	104.38	103.42	1.30	1.74	1.52
09.6	Cultural services	103.43	104.38	104.01	1.80	2.02	1.93
09.7	Newspapers, books and stationery	102.54	102.65	102.59	1.18	1.54	1.34
10.1	Early childhood and primary education	106.17	106.04	106.09	3.74	3.20	3.40
10.2	Secondary education	105.49	107.18	106.56	3.44	4.43	4.07
10.4	Higher education	102.21	105.87	104.58	1.56	4.82	3.67
10.5	Education not defined by level	103.21	103.44	103.32	1.90	2.14	2.02
11.1	Food and beverage serving services	105.54	107.07	106.36	2.37	3.35	2.89
11.2	Accommodation services	102.27	104.70	103.36	0.82	2.48	1.56
13.1	Personal care	104.86	105.39	105.09	2.65	2.78	2.70
13.2	Other personal effects	178.80	168.47	174.23	61.37	52.09	57.26
13.9	Other services	102.87	102.15	102.59	1.54	1.26	1.43

Note: Comb.: Combined

Annexure-III

State wise general index and inflation in March, 2026 (Provisional)

State	CPI			Inflation
State	Rural	Urban	Combined	Rural	Urban	Combined
Andaman And Nicobar Islands	106.70	104.87	105.80	4.14	2.70	3.44
Andhra Pradesh	104.74	104.94	104.82	4.14	3.91	4.05
Arunachal Pradesh	103.37	103.24	103.33	2.53	1.68	2.31
Assam	104.14	102.86	103.87	3.10	1.78	2.83
Bihar	104.14	102.70	103.93	3.11	1.78	2.92
Chandigarh	—	104.21	104.21	—	3.17	3.17
Chhattisgarh	101.74	101.98	101.82	1.35	1.35	1.35
Goa	103.51	104.05	103.85	1.67	2.52	2.21
Gujarat	104.18	103.83	103.97	3.54	2.74	3.07
Haryana	104.87	104.69	104.78	2.99	2.38	2.68
Himachal Pradesh	104.63	105.65	104.79	2.88	3.93	3.05
Jammu And Kashmir	104.99	104.60	104.88	2.02	2.67	2.20
Jharkhand	104.33	102.58	103.73	3.61	2.07	3.08
Karnataka	106.20	105.43	105.81	4.24	3.68	3.96
Kerala	106.24	104.93	105.51	4.31	3.06	3.62
Ladakh	105.41	105.41	105.41	0.82	1.30	0.94
Lakshadweep	104.41	105.69	105.34	2.69	3.52	3.29
Madhya Pradesh	104.83	104.48	104.69	3.51	3.45	3.49
Maharashtra	105.86	104.62	105.10	4.29	2.89	3.44
Manipur	102.48	103.51	102.81	1.73	2.46	1.96
Meghalaya	104.58	103.17	104.21	3.30	1.99	2.96
Mizoram	103.35	102.16	102.67	1.02	0.40	0.66
Nagaland	106.01	103.47	105.04	3.72	2.44	3.23
NCT of Delhi	101.54	103.23	103.19	1.83	1.86	1.86
Odisha	103.72	103.47	103.65	3.50	2.83	3.32
Puducherry	105.85	105.52	105.62	4.31	4.13	4.18
Punjab	105.59	104.52	105.10	3.21	2.70	2.97
Rajasthan	105.59	104.95	105.36	3.86	3.24	3.64
Sikkim	106.40	105.64	106.14	4.41	4.02	4.28
Tamil Nadu	105.21	105.36	105.29	3.83	3.72	3.77
Telangana	108.15	107.20	107.61	6.64	5.24	5.83
The Dadra And Nagar Haveli And Daman And Diu	103.17	103.96	103.76	3.10	3.22	3.19
Tripura	102.07	102.46	102.16	2.26	2.23	2.25
Uttar Pradesh	105.22	104.86	105.10	3.52	3.25	3.43
Uttarakhand	106.12	104.51	105.53	3.60	2.81	3.31
West Bengal	103.93	103.76	103.85	2.99	2.66	2.84

–: No rural market in Chandigarh

Annexure-IV

All India Combined (General) level index and inflation

Month	Index			Inflation (%)
Month	Rural	Urban	Combined	Rural	Urban	Combined
Jan-25	101.81	101.49	101.67
Feb-25	101.33	101.30	101.32
Mar-25	101.34	101.47	101.39
Apr-25	101.49	101.71	101.58
May-25	101.78	102.06	101.90
Jun-25	102.39	102.66	102.51
Jul-25	103.34	103.36	103.35
Aug-25	103.84	103.60	103.74
Sep-25	103.80	103.66	103.74
Oct-25	103.85	103.61	103.74
Nov-25	104.16	103.83	104.01
Dec-25	104.19	103.98	104.10
Jan-26	104.59	104.28	104.45	2.73	2.75	2.74
Feb-26	104.74	104.36	104.57	3.37	3.02	3.21
Mar-26*	105.01	104.62	104.84	3.63	3.11	3.40

*Index and Inflation for the month of March 2026 are provisional.

Source: Click here to view/download PDF

नोट :- हमारे वेबसाइट www.indiangovtscheme.com पर ऐसी जानकारी रोजाना आती रहती है, तो आप ऐसी ही सरकारी योजनाओं की जानकारी पाने के लिए हमारे वेबसाइट www.indiangovtscheme.com से जुड़े रहे।

*****

लेटेस्‍ट अपडेट के लिए Facebook — Twitter — Telegram से अवश्‍य जुड़ें