Retail inflation was 5.54% in September, MoSPI says

This note is NP EXPLAINS. The stamp is verified. The MoSPI PDF was downloaded at about 8:02 am IST on 13 October 2026 and read in full. The check of those figures is marked 8:05 am IST. The note was last checked at 1:40 pm IST and posted at 1:45 pm IST.

The release is from MoSPI and the NSO. Its title is "CPI on base 2024=100 for September 2026". It is dated 12 October 2026. Every percentage on the screen was matched to that PDF. A PIB-hosted copy of the same release, document doc_10157_20261012, is identical. Business Standard's report of 12 October was cross-checked against the same figures.

Combined CPI inflation for September is 5.54%. Rural is 6.08%. Urban is 4.88%. The August figure in this release is the final one, 4.83% combined. September's 5.54% and August's 4.83% are the two combined rates the release sets side by side. The rural rate is above the urban rate in this print: 6.08% against 4.88%.

Food is the CFPI. For September it is 7.74%. Rural food is 8.06%. Urban food is 7.18%. August's CFPI, in the same release, is 5.97%. The caption's line is that food inflation is 7.74%, and that the village reading is 6.08% while the city reading is 4.88%. Those are the combined rural and urban CPI rates, not a second food split. The food split is 8.06% rural and 7.18% urban.

Onion is the top high-inflation item in the release, at 108.09%. That is the item the release puts first on that list. This note does not add other item names.

The September figures are provisional. The next release is 12 November 2026. The caption identifies that date as the one for October's data.

One card on the carousel is arithmetic, not a line from the PDF. It takes ₹100 and shows ₹105.54 beside the 5.54% all-items rate, and ₹107.74 beside the 7.74% food rate. That step is NP's, done on MoSPI's two percentages, and the card labels it an illustration. It is not a rupee figure printed by MoSPI.

Business Standard's URL for its 12 October report frames the 5.54% reading as a 23-month high. That month-count is the outlet's framing of the figure. MoSPI's release, and the identical PIB copy, are the source for the percentages in this note: 5.54% combined, 6.08% rural, 4.88% urban, 7.74% food, and onion at 108.09%.

The cover uses NP graphics for the gauge, the food bars and the rural and urban dials, with those MoSPI figures. One frame shows the first page of the MoSPI press release.