Hyderabad: Telangana’s retail inflation crossed the 7% mark for the first time in 2026, rising to 7.26% in Oct from 6.64% in Sept, placing it among just six states that recorded inflation above 7%.Retail inflation is the rate at which prices of goods and services commonly purchased by households rise over time, measured by Consumer Price Index (CPI). It reflects changes in the cost of living and directly impacts consumers’ purchasing power. The latest CPI data released by National Statistical Office (NSO) shows that inflationary pressures in Telangana have remained consistently higher than the national average for 10 consecutive months since Jan.Experts said the sustained gap between Telangana and national inflation rates over the past 10 months makes the Oct crossing of the 7% threshold an important development in the state’s cost-of-living trends. “Though we don’t have exact numbers, we can also say that lower agricultural production in recent months due to El Niño could be one of the reasons,” Vijay Kumar Venna of Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) said.Telangana’s inflation rate was 4.92% in Jan, 5.02% in Feb and 5.83% in March. It increased to 5.81% in April and 6.15% in May before touching 6.36% in June. Though it moderated marginally to 6.32% in July and 6.27% in Aug, it rose again to 6.64% in Sept and 7.26% in Oct.In comparison, national retail inflation stood at 6.09% in Oct against 5.54% in Sept. Telangana’s inflation was 1.17 percentage points higher than the national rate. Tamil Nadu recorded 7.29%, marginally higher than Telangana, while Andhra Pradesh reported 7.25%, Madhya Pradesh 7.19%, Odisha 7.17% and Karnataka 7.07%.The rural-urban difference in Telangana was also significant. Rural inflation stood at 8.05% in Oct, compared with 6.68% in urban areas, indicating considerably higher price pressures in rural markets. The rural rate was more than two percentage points above the national rural inflation of 6.63%.Food prices continued to be a major source of inflationary pressure nationally. Food inflation based on Consumer Food Price Index stood at 8.94% in Oct, up from 7.74% in Sept. Rural food inflation was 9.09%, while urban food inflation was 8.68%. A similar situation was reflected in Telangana with rice prices also contributing to the inflation.At the national level, onion prices recorded inflation of 116.22% in October, followed by garlic at 60.74%, silver jewellery at 52.39%, ginger at 48.32% and lemon at 47.30%, according to the NSO report.
