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India macro › CPI inflation › March 2026

CPI inflation, March 2026: 3.40%

India's consumer price inflation rose to 3.40% in March 2026 from 3.21% in February, the highest since February 2025. Food inflation was 3.71%, against 3.35% the month before. That is inside the RBI's 2–6% tolerance band, below its 4% target. The repo rate was 5.25% at the end of the month, 1.85 points above inflation.

March 2026February 2026March 2025
CPI inflation3.40%3.21%3.34%
Food inflation3.71%3.35%2.88%
CPI inflation, food inflation and the repo rateApr 2023 – Oct 2026
−5%0%5%10%15%202420252026New CPI base (2024)3.40%
Year-on-year inflation for All India, rural and urban combined. The CPI moved to a 2024 base in January 2026, so the figures either side of the dashed line come from different series.

Source: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). MoSPI revises earlier periods as fuller data arrives; this page shows the latest published figure. The latest figures for every indicator are on the India macro dashboard.