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India's retail inflation fell sharply to 1.54 per cent in September 2025, marking the lowest level in over eight years, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Monday.
The decline was primarily driven by a sustained fall in food prices, continuing a trend of easing price pressures for the fourth consecutive month. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks the changes in the retail prices of goods and services, showed a notable drop from the previous month's reading, underscoring a broad-based moderation in price growth. The Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) stood at -2.28 per cent, indicating that food prices have been in the negative zone since June 2025. "The year-on-year inflation rate based on the All India Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September 2025, compared to September 2024, is 1.54% (Provisional). There is a decrease of 53 basis points in the headline inflation of September 2025 in comparison to August 2025. It is the lowest year-on-year inflation after June 2017," the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation release said. It said rural areas recorded an inflation rate of 1.07 per cent, while urban inflation stood at 2.04 per cent. The data also revealed that food inflation was negative across both segments at -2.17 per cent in rural and -2.47 per cent in urban areas, reflecting the impact of falling vegetable and edible oil prices. The ministry attributed the decline to "favourable base effects" and reductions in key food categories such as vegetables, oils and fats, fruits, cereals, pulses, eggs, and fuel & light. In the non-food categories, housing inflation (measured only for urban areas) was at 3.98 per cent, education at 3.44 per cent, health at 4.34 per cent, and transport and communication at 1.82 per cent. Fuel and light inflation eased to 1.98 per cent, suggesting that energy prices remained largely stable during the month. The price data for September were collected from 1,181 villages and 1,114 urban markets across all states and union territories. Coverage of rural markets stood at 99.83 per cent, while urban market coverage was 98.56 per cent, ensuring a comprehensive national representation. (ANI)
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