Key highlights

• CPI is a basket—its meaning changes by group (food vs non-food), geography (rural vs urban), and purpose(headline vs food-only). Stats & Programme Ministry+1
• Rural and urban inflation can diverge sharply because spending patterns differ. Stats & Programme Ministry
• CFPI exists because food prices dominate lived experience more than any “headline” number. Stats & Programme Ministry

Most CPI coverage fails for one reason: it behaves as if one number explains millions of lives. The official CPI framework is more layered than that, and it rewards readers who break it into interpretable parts. Stats & Programme Ministry+1

Start with the group split. Food prices can drag the headline down even while non-food costs (services, personal care, commuting, essentials) keep rising. That’s why two people can read the same CPI headline and feel opposite realities. CPI is not lying; it’s averaging. The editorial duty is to show what’s moving inside the basket.

Second, the rural–urban split. Urban consumption is typically more exposed to rents, services, and administered pricing; rural households often feel food and transport volatility more intensely. When November 2025 shows urban inflation lifting to 1.40% (provisional), it hints at pressure zones that matter for city budgets and small businesses—without automatically implying a national inflation wave. Stats & Programme Ministry

Third, the headline vs CFPI split. A country can have moderate headline inflation and still face a public mood problem if food inflation feels painful. This is precisely why the Consumer Food Price Index is surfaced alongside CPI in official material: it isolates kitchen economics, the most emotionally charged part of inflation. Stats & Programme Ministry

A practical reader’s rule for January 2026: never ask “what is inflation?” Ask “which inflation?” Food? Urban? Rural? Headline? Once you ask the right question, CPI stops being noise and becomes a clean dashboard for decisions—from buying to borrowing to pricing.