New Delhi, February 11 The government will release the retail inflation data for January based on the new Consumer Price Index (CPI) series on Thursday, which will also reflect price movements in airfares, e-commerce platforms, and subscription rates of OTT channels.
The new series, with a base year of 2024, will cover 358 items compared to the 299 products and services included in the 2012 CPI series.
Prices will be collected from 1,465 rural markets and 1,395 urban markets, which is a significantly larger sample size compared to the CPI (2012=100) series.
The last inflation number based on the previous series was released for December 2025.
The National Statistics Organisation (NSO) within the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation releases macroeconomic data related to retail inflation, factor production, and national accounts (GDP).
The ministry has decided on a comprehensive exercise to revise the base year of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Index of Industrial Production (IIP), and Consumer Price Index (CPI) to enhance their relevance, accuracy, and international comparability.
The new base year for GDP and IIP is 2022-23, and for CPI, the proposed base year is 2024.
The ministry stated that the revision of the base year for GDP, CPI, and IIP is guided by the respective Technical Advisory Committee/Expert Groups comprising experts from academia, central and state governments, and the RBI, among others.
"The release of the new series of GDP, CPI, and IIP is scheduled for February 27, 2026, February 12, 2026, and May 2026, respectively," it said.
Last Friday, the Reserve Bank did not announce inflation projections for the next fiscal year and decided to wait for the release of the new CPI series.
The RBI takes into account retail inflation data when formulating monetary policy.
