Document title: RBI Working Paper No. 01/2026 – Data Gaps in State-Level Inflation: An Assessment for the Covid Period
Issuing authority: Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
Reference number: Working Paper No. 01/2026
Date: October 09, 2026
Regulatory and policy measures
The Reserve Bank of India placed on its website a Working Paper titled “Data Gaps in State-Level Inflation: An Assessment for the Covid Period”, co‑authored by Purnima Shaw and R. K. Sinha. The paper addresses the unavailability of official state‑wise Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI‑U) for four pandemic months – April and May 2020 and April and May 2021 – when only aggregate‑level imputed price indices were released.
To fill this gap, the authors utilised granular data from the RBI’s Inflation Expectations Survey of Households (IESH), which continued to be conducted bimonthly and disseminated throughout the pandemic. By combining the distribution of centre‑wise urban consumers’ inflation perceptions, three‑months‑ahead inflation expectations, and historical state‑wise realised CPI‑U figures, the paper derives state‑wise CPI‑U estimates for the missing months. When these state‑wise estimates are aggregated, they closely track the all‑India official CPI inflation series, demonstrating the reliability of the methodology.
The authors emphasise that state‑wise inflation data are crucial under India’s inflation‑targeting framework, and providing estimates for the months lacking official data can support future research involving state‑level inflation time‑series.
A brief note on the RBI Working Papers series states that it was introduced in March 2011 to present research in progress by RBI staff and external co‑authors. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the RBI. Comments and observations are invited, and the provisional nature of the papers is highlighted.
In summary, the Working Paper offers a methodological solution to data gaps in state‑level inflation during the Covid period, reinforcing the importance of granular inflation metrics for policy formulation and academic analysis.