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India's Inflation at 2.75% Under New 2024 Base Year, Gold & Silver Soar

India's retail inflation for January 2025 is estimated at 2.75 percent under the newly introduced Consumer Price Index with a 2024 base year. Food inflation remained relatively low at 2.13 percent, aided by falling prices of key vegetables and pulses, though tomato prices saw an increase. Strikingly, inflation for silver and gold jewellery recorded massive surges of 159.67 percent and 46.77 percent, respectively. The revised index, based on the latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, adds modern items like streaming services and removes outdated ones to improve data accuracy for policy and business decisions.

Key Points: India's Jan CPI Inflation 2.75% Under New 2024 Base

  • Jan CPI at 2.75% with new 2024 base
  • Food inflation moderates to 2.13%
  • Gold & silver jewellery inflation skyrockets
  • Basket updated with streaming, rural housing
  • Old items like VCRs removed from index
2 min read

India's retail inflation recorded at 2.75 pc for January with 2024 as base year

India's retail inflation hits 2.75% in Jan 2025 under new 2024 base year. Food inflation eases but gold & silver jewellery prices surge sharply.

"The exercise is being done for enhancing the coverage and representativeness of the inflation measure. - Ministry of Statistics"

New Delhi, Feb 12

India's inflation rate based on the Consumer Price Index, with the new base year 2024, for the month of January this year is estimated at 2.75 per cent compared to the same month of the previous year, according to official data released by the Ministry of Statistics on Thursday.

The food inflation came in at 2.13 per cent during the month. Prices of vegetables such as potatoes, onions and garlic declined during January along with the prices of pulses such as arhar and tur. However, there was an increase in the price of tomatoes during the month. Housing Inflation was estimated at 2.05 per cent.

The data showed a sharp increase in the inflation rate for silver jewellery at 159.67 per cent and in the case of gold jewellery at 46.77 per cent.

India's CPI inflation was estimated at 1.33 per cent for December 2025 which was marginally higher than the corresponding figure of 0.71 per cent for November, but the inflation rates for both months was based on the old base year of 2012.

The base for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has now been revised from 2012 to 2024 using Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24, the official statement said.

"The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is releasing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) with Base 2024=100. The item basket and the corresponding weights are based on Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24. The exercise is being done for enhancing the coverage and representativeness of the inflation measure. The revision introduces more granular data enabling policymakers, financial institutions, businesses and citizens with precise data-driven decisions," the statement said.

The new data includes two Divisions in place of six Groups in accordance to the Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP) 2018.

New additions in the data are rural housing, online media service provider/streaming services, value added dairy products, Barley and its product, Pen-drive and External Hard disk, Attendant, Babysitter and Exercise equipment.

The items that have been removed are VCR/VCD/DVD player and hiring charges, Radio, Tape recorder, Clothing second-hand, CD/DVD audio/video cassettes and Coir/rope, according to the statement.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

R
Rohit P
Gold and silver jewellery inflation at 46% and 159%! 😳 This is huge for middle-class families saving for weddings. Makes sense to update the basket, but removing items like VCR shows how outdated the old data was. Hope this leads to better policy.
A
Aditya G
As someone who works with data, revising the base year to 2024 is a crucial and welcome step. The 2012 base was completely out of touch with modern consumption patterns. Including online services and value-added dairy products reflects reality. More granular data will help everyone.
S
Sarah B
Interesting to see rural housing included now. That's a significant change and should give a much clearer picture of inflation's impact across the whole country, not just urban centers. The low housing inflation number is promising if it holds.
K
Karthik V
While the update is necessary, I'm skeptical. Changing the base year often makes direct year-on-year comparisons difficult for the common man. The headline number looks good, but let's see if this translates to actual relief in our monthly budgets. Pulses getting cheaper is a relief though.
M
Meera T
Finally, they added babysitter and attendant costs! This is a major expense for working families, especially in cities. Glad our consumption is being measured more accurately. Hope this leads to policies that acknowledge the real cost of living for dual-income households.

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