India’s retail inflation data for January will mark a significant shift in how price pressures are measured, with the government rolling out a new consumer price index (CPI) series that captures modern consumption patterns such as air travel, online shopping and over-the-top (OTT) subscriptions.
The Union ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) says the first inflation print based on the revised CPI series, with 2024 as the base year instead of 2012, will be released on 12 February 2026. The data will provide inflation numbers for January 2026, along with revised index values from January 2025 onwards.
The updated CPI framework is aimed at offering a more accurate reading of price movements and household consumption behaviour, reflecting changes in spending habits over the past decade driven by digital services, e-commerce and evolving mobility patterns, the MoSPI says.
Under the revised CPI 2024 series, the item basket has been expanded and restructured to include prices from e-commerce platforms, airfares and subscription-based digital services such as OTT platforms. This means movements in airline ticket prices, online retail discounts, and subscription charges for streaming services will now directly influence headline inflation.
The base year has been reset to 2024, with the index value fixed at 100 for that year. The weighting structure is derived from the latest household consumption expenditure survey (HCES) 2023–24, replacing older spending patterns captured more than a decade ago.
According to MoSPI, the CPI 2024 basket comprises 358 weighted items mapped across 12 divisions, 43 groups, 62 classes and 192 sub-classes, aligned with the global classification of individual consumption according to purpose (COICOP) 2018 framework.
Alongside the announcement, the Ministry released the 'Report of the Expert Group on Comprehensive Updation of the CPI', constituted to guide the base revision exercise. The panel included experts from academic institutions, senior officials from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and government representatives.
The report recommends a series of methodological and structural changes aimed at improving accuracy, transparency and global comparability of India’s inflation data.
One of the key changes is the systematic inclusion of online and administrative data. Prices from 12 major e-commerce platforms will now be tracked weekly, while telecom services and OTT subscriptions will be monitored centrally using online sources. Electricity prices will be compiled directly by state field offices, while centrally determined prices such as rail fares, fuel and postal services will be sourced from relevant ministries.
Airfares, both domestic and international direct routes, have been formally incorporated into the CPI framework. The expert group recommended tracking ticket prices based on advance purchase windows of 21 days for domestic travel and 60 days for international routes, using popular routes identified by the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA).
The new series also introduces changes to housing and jewellery price tracking. House rent indices will now be compiled for rural areas as well, with methodological adjustments to address anomalies seen in the previous CPI series. Employer-provided accommodation has been excluded from the index.
For gold and silver jewellery, the expert group advised moving away from pricing customised designs. Instead, prices will be collected for standard, commonly available items such as bangles, necklaces and rings, in line with international practices.
On food subsidies, the report clarified that free items distributed under government welfare schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Kalyan Anna Yojana will not be included in CPI calculations. The rationale is that CPI should reflect only those items on which households incur actual expenditure, in keeping with global guidelines.
The revised CPI series will feature more granular data dissemination. Item-level CPI indices will be released for each state and for rural, urban and combined sectors, covering all COICOP classification levels.
To ensure continuity, MoSPI will publish linking factors between the CPI 2012 and CPI 2024 series, allowing users to compute back-series inflation data. All-India back-series indices for rural, urban and combined segments from January 2013 onwards will be released along with the first CPI 2024 data.
However, the expert group advised against publishing official core inflation figures, noting the absence of a universally accepted definition and the risk of misinterpretation by different stakeholders.
Economists and policymakers closely track CPI data to assess inflation trends, guide monetary policy and calibrate welfare schemes. By updating the base year and expanding the consumption basket, the government aims to ensure that inflation readings better reflect how households actually spend today — not how they did a decade ago.
With airfares, online prices and digital subscriptions now part of the inflation equation, future CPI prints may show sharper responses to travel demand, platform pricing strategies and changes in the digital economy — offering a more realistic picture of cost-of-living pressures in modern India.
