Retail inflation rises to 1.66% in December 2025 from 0.71% in Nov

December 2025 CPI-based inflation: The increase in headline inflation is mainly attributed to an increase in the prices of items across personal care, vegetables, meat and fish, egg, and pulses

India’s retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose to 1.66 per cent in December 2025, up from 0.71 per cent in November, official data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed on Monday.

 

The rise in inflation was mainly due to higher prices of items such as personal care products, meat and fish, eggs, spices, sugar, and confectionery.

 

Personal care prices saw the sharpest increase, rising 28.07 per cent in December. Prices of meat and fish rose 5.12 per cent, while egg prices increased 4.76 per cent.

 

Despite the overall rise, prices of vegetables and pulses showed a deflationary trend. Vegetable prices declined by around 18 per cent, while pulses were down nearly 15 per cent, helping to keep food inflation in check.

December food inflation

Food inflation remained negative on a year-on-year basis in December 2025 at -2.71 per cent. In rural areas, food prices fell -3.08 per cent, while in urban areas they declined -2.09 per cent. However, food prices rose compared to November.

 

Headline inflation in rural areas increased to 0.76 per cent in December from 0.10 per cent in November. In urban areas, inflation rose to 2.03 per cent from 1.40 per cent in the previous month.

Housing, education, and health cheaper

Urban housing inflation eased slightly to 2.86 per cent in December from 2.95 per cent in November. Education inflation slowed to 3.32 per cent, while health inflation fell to 3.43 per cent.

Transport and fuel

Inflation in transport and communication moderated to 0.76 per cent from 0.88 per cent in November. Fuel and light inflation also eased, falling to 1.97 per cent from 2.32 per cent.

State-wise inflation

Kerala recorded the highest inflation in December at 9.49 per cent, up from 8.27 per cent in November, followed by Karnataka at 2.99 per cent, and Andhra Pradesh at 2.71 per cent.

 

Several states saw deflation. Bihar recorded the lowest inflation at -1.37 per cent, slightly higher than -1.67 per cent in November. Assam (-1.25 per cent) and Odisha (-0.99 per cent) also remained in deflation.

RBI’s inflation outlook

In its December monetary policy review, the Reserve Bank of India cut its inflation forecast for FY26 to 2 per cent from 2.6 per cent earlier. Inflation for the December quarter of FY26 was pegged at 0.6 per cent.