Inflation printed 3.21% in February, the first reading on the rebased index

India's consumer price inflation came in at 3.21% year on year in February 2026, according to the National Statistical Office release published on March 12. The number is provisional, as the first reading of any month is, and it is the first one computed on the rebased series that now uses 2024 as its reference year.

1. 1.3.21% — headline CPI inflation, February 2026, year on year (provisional)
2. 2.3.37% — the rural reading
3. 3.3.02% — the urban reading
4. 4.3.47% — the combined food price index
5. 5.2.12% — housing

The gap between rural and urban inflation is the number most likely to be argued over. A rural reading a third of a percentage point above the urban figure means the food component is doing more work in the rural basket, which matters for a monetary authority that reads rural demand as the leading edge of the cycle.

For the Reserve Bank of India the reading lands inside the tolerance band around the 4% target, and closer to the floor of it than to the ceiling. The Monetary Policy Committee met in the first week of February and held the policy repo rate at 5.25% on a neutral vote. A provisional 3.21% is consistent with that stance; it is not, by itself, a reason to move.