India’s headline CPI inflation for November stood at 0.71% (YoY), 46 basis points higher than October, when inflation had dropped to 0.25% — the lowest level in the current CPI series.
The data released by the government noted that the rise in headline inflation is mainly due to higher prices of: Vegetables, eggs, meat & fish, spices, and fuel & light.
Food inflation stayed in deflation at 3.91% in November compared to a year ago. It also marks an increase of 111 basis points from the October food inflation.
Key highlights from November CPI data
Rural CPI rose to 0.10%, improving from –0.25% in October. Food inflation in rural India also eased slightly to –4.05% compared to –4.85% in the previous month.
Urban inflation increased to 1.40% in November from 0.88% in October. Food inflation in cities improved to –3.60%, up from –5.18% a month earlier.
Fuel and light inflation for November was 2.32% against 1.98% in October.
ICRA expects F&B deflation to narrow further in December
ICRA noted, in the F&B segment, as many as 8 of the 12 sub-segments witnessed a hardening in their YoY prints in November as compared to October. Nevertheless, vegetables and pulses remained in the deflationary zone for the tenth consecutive month, while spices sustained in this territory for the seventeenth month in a row. These three items account for approximately 24% of the F&B segment by weight, and trends in these segments have weighed on food inflation prints in 8M FY26.
“Looking ahead, the YoY prints for most food items have hardened during December 1-11, 2025 vis-à-vis November 2025, even as a fairly large number of these remained in the deflationary zone. Tomato prices, in particular, have surged in early December 2025, which may temper the typical seasonal dip that is seen in the vegetables index in December every year. ICRA expects the CPI deflation in the F&B segment to narrow further in December 2025,” noted Aditi Nayar, economist of ICRA.
The Reserve Bank, earlier this month, significantly lowered the inflation projection for the current fiscal to 2 per cent from 2.6 per cent estimated earlier, as the economy continues to witness rapid disinflation.