India's Retail Inflation Edges Up to 3.48% in April on Food and Jewellery Costs

Rural inflation for April stood at 3.74 per cent, up from 3.63 per cent in March, while urban inflation edged up to 3.16 per cent from 3.11 per cent. The overall CPI index for April was recorded at 105.12 at the combined national level, compared to 104.84 in March.

Food inflation, as measured by the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI), accelerated to 4.20 per cent year-on-year in April from 3.87 per cent in March. The rise was more pronounced in rural areas at 4.26 per cent compared to 4.10 per cent in urban areas. The CFPI index for April stood at 104.39, up from 104.14 in the previous month.

The uptick in food inflation was largely attributed to elevated prices of tomato, jewellery and coconut copra. Tomato inflation remained high at 35.28 per cent in April, though slightly lower than 36.00 per cent in March. Silver jewellery recorded the sharpest increase at 144.34 per cent, followed by coconut copra at 44.55 per cent and gold, diamond and platinum jewellery at 40.72 per cent. Cauliflower also saw a notable rise of 25.58 per cent during the month.

Offsetting this pressure was a significant fall in vegetable prices. Potato inflation plunged to -23.69 per cent in April from -19.03 per cent in March, while onion inflation eased to -17.67 per cent from -27.78 per cent. Other items with low inflation included motor cars and jeeps at -7.12 per cent, peas and chickpeas at -6.75 per cent, and air conditioners at -5.06 per cent.

Housing inflation remained moderate at 2.15 per cent nationally in April 2026. Rural housing inflation was recorded at 2.65 per cent, while urban housing inflation was lower at 1.96 per cent.

The March 2026 final figures showed CPI inflation at 3.40 per cent and CFPI at 3.87 per cent. The rural and urban CPI for March was 3.63 per cent and 3.11 per cent respectively, while the CFPI stood at 3.95 per cent for rural and 3.71 per cent for urban areas.

The April data collection saw a 100 per cent response rate across both rural and urban markets. Price data was collected from 1,407 urban markets, including online platforms, and 1,465 villages across all States and Union Territories by the Field Operations Division of the National Statistical Office. Market-wise price reporting stood at 99.44 per cent for rural areas and 99.82 per cent for urban areas.

The ministry said all indices and inflation rates are compiled using actual index values without rounding off, though the published figures are rounded to two decimal places, which may result in minor differences when higher-level indices are calculated from them.

- ANI