Your kitchen budget under strain: Onion inflation crosses 108%, retail inflation at 5.54%

PTC Web Desk: India’s retail inflation rose for the eleventh month in a row in September, reaching 5.54 per cent, up from 4.82 per cent in August. Costlier vegetables and other food items, along with higher crude oil prices linked to tension in the Middle East, were cited as the main reasons.

The sharpest jump was in onions. Onion inflation climbed to 108.09 per cent in September from 48.27 per cent a month earlier, meaning the vegetable now costs more than double what it did a year ago.

Not every kitchen staple got dearer, though. Potato prices are still lower than last year, but the fall has narrowed, with the rate moving from minus 13.14 per cent to minus 11.50 per cent. Tomato prices also remain below last year’s levels, but the decline eased sharply from 31.09 per cent to 8.62 per cent. Ginger inflation slowed to 62.85 per cent from 73.82 per cent, while inflation in silver jewellery dropped to 87.80 per cent from 107.11 per cent.

Food inflation rises

Food inflation went up to 7.74 per cent in September from 5.97 per cent in August. Rural inflation rose to 6.08 per cent from 5.24 per cent, while urban inflation increased to 4.88 per cent from 4.31 per cent.

Rural households feel the pinch more because they spend a larger share of their income on food, so any rise in grain and vegetable prices hits their budgets harder. In cities, rent, schooling, healthcare and transport take up a bigger chunk of monthly spending.

How inflation is measured

Retail inflation is calculated using the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which compares prices with the same month a year earlier. A rate of 5.54 per cent for September 2026 means the overall cost of goods and services is, on average, 5.54 per cent higher than in September 2025. The increase is not uniform across items, as the onion and potato figures show.

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