Telangana only state with 8 months of food price deflation

Hyderabad: Telangana has emerged as the only state in the country to record sustained negative food inflation since the start of the current financial year (2025-26), standing apart from the rest of India for its unusually long deflationary trend in food prices.While several states witnessed negative food inflation for brief periods, Telangana remained in deflation for eight consecutive months, up to Dec 2025. It also recorded the lowest food inflation in Dec, at just 0.7%. Experts said the trend could reflect subdued consumer spending, coupled with high food supply and relatively weak demand. Explaining Telangana's trend, Raja Sethu Durai, professor of economics at the School of Economics, University of Hyderabad, said: "Telangana's trend reflects an overall pattern observed in previous household consumption surveys conducted by the Centre, indicating a general decrease in the consumption of food items."Course correctionKrishna Reddy Chittedi, associate professor at the School of Economics, UoH, pointed to two key concerns behind the deflation. "The primary reasons for negative food inflation could be a lack of sufficient income among consumers or an oversupply of items leading to a drop in prices. Both scenarios are concerning, and some correction is needed," he said. According to the latest Ecowrap report, food inflation varied sharply across states. In Dec last, only four of the 22 major states reported positive food inflation. Kerala recorded the highest rise at 6.25%, followed by Goa at 4%. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu saw marginal increases of 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively. Kerala and Goa have consistently reported higher food inflation throughout the current fiscal year. In contrast, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest food price deflation in Dec, followed by Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. Downward CPIRaja Durai further said: "The ministry of statistics and planning implementation plans to adjust the weightage given to food items in the calculation of the consumer price index (CPI) downward. Telangana's negative inflation may also result from the base year used for inflation calculations."Retail inflation is measured through the CPI, which tracks price changes from the consumer's perspective. The index covers 299 items in its general basket, while separate calculations account for 448 items in rural areas and 460 in urban areas. Food items carry the largest weight in the CPI—about 45.86%—followed by categories such as health and education. The Reserve Bank of India considers an overall inflation range of 2% to 4% to be healthy, a benchmark that also broadly applies to food inflation.