RAS question
What was India's headline CPI inflation in October 2025?
Correct answer: (A) 0.25%.
India's headline CPI inflation for October 2025 was 0.25%, the lowest year-on-year inflation rate in the current CPI series.
Explanation
The official PIB release for the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation reports that year-on-year inflation based on the All India Consumer Price Index for October 2025, measured over October 2024, was 0.25% on a provisional basis. That is the headline CPI number because it refers to the general CPI, not only food prices or a rural or urban sub-index. The same release says this was 119 basis points lower than September 2025 and the lowest year-on-year inflation rate in the current CPI series. Food inflation also declined sharply to -5.02%, which helps explain why the headline rate fell so low, but the answer asked for headline CPI inflation, not CFPI.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) 0.75% is too high because the official October 2025 headline CPI inflation figure reported by PIB is 0.25%.
- (C) 1.5% does not match the PIB release, which places October 2025 headline CPI inflation at 0.25%.
- (D) -0.5% would imply headline CPI deflation, whereas PIB reports positive headline CPI inflation of 0.25%; the negative figure in the release relates to food inflation, which was -5.02%.
Concept
This tests the Indian Economy syllabus area on inflation indicators, especially CPI and food inflation. RAS repeatedly uses such questions because official inflation releases connect current economic data with core concepts on price indices and macroeconomic trends.