Inflation With the Fine Print

January's CPI numbers from MoSPI came with a surprise: retail inflation was just 2.75%. That put it back inside the RBI's comfort band of 2% to 6% for the first time since August 2025.

The more interesting news sat in the fine print. MoSPI moved the base year of the index from 2011-12 to 2024, the first revision in 10 years, since 2015, so prices are now weighed against how households spend today, as measured by the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES), instead of how they spent more than a decade ago.

What changed, and what did not

How prices are collected and how inflation is worked out stay the same. What changes is the basket: which items are in it, how much weight each one carries, and where prices come from. Prices now also come from 12 new online marketplaces, alongside physical shops.