PANAJI
Even as households across India continued to feel the pinch of rising food and jewellery prices amid the ripple effects of the US-Israel conflict with Iran, Goa emerged as one of the country’s least inflation-hit States in April 2026.
Fresh data released by the National Statistics Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed Goa recorded a combined retail inflation rate of 2.20 per cent in April – significantly below the national average of 3.48 per cent.
The figures placed Goa among the States that witnessed the mildest increase in consumer prices during the month.
This offered temporary relief after a prolonged spell of high inflation over the past financial year when the State emerged as the third-highest inflationary State during 2025-26, recording an inflation rate of 4.77 per cent for the April-December period – nearly 2.9 percentage points above the national average.
The Economic Survey had earlier flagged a steady rise in inflation over the past three years. Inflation in Goa climbed from 2.94 per cent in 2023-24 to 3.54 per cent in 2024-25 before surging to 4.77 per cent by December 2025, reflecting mounting cost pressures across sectors.
For April this year, however, inflation dropped while rural Goa remained particularly low at 1.68 per cent and urban areas 2.49 per cent.
Nationally, retail inflation edged up from 3.40 per cent in March to 3.48 per cent in April, driven largely by rising food prices and a sharp spike in precious metal-linked products.
Food inflation across the country rose to 4.20 per cent in April from 3.87 per cent in the previous month.
Silver jewellery recorded the steepest annual price rise in the country, with inflation touching a massive 144.34 per cent in April.
Gold, diamond and platinum jewellery followed with inflation of 40.72 per cent, while coconut copra prices rose 44.55 per cent year-on-year. Tomato prices increased by 35.28 per cent and cauliflower by 25.58 per cent over the same period.
At the same time, falling prices of key staples helped soften the broader inflation curve. Potato prices declined sharply by 23.69 per cent year-on-year and onion prices also fell by 17.67 per cent. Prices of cars and jeeps dropped by 7.12 per cent, peas and chickpeas by 6.75 per cent, and air conditioners by 5.06 per cent.
The NSO data further showed that personal care and miscellaneous goods remained the country’s most inflationary category, recording a sharp 17.66 per cent rise, largely due to the bullion-driven surge in jewellery prices.
Food and beverages inflation stood at 4.01 per cent, while transport inflation remained nearly flat at minus 0.01 per cent.
Among major States, Telangana recorded the highest combined inflation at 5.81 per cent, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 4.20 per cent and Tamil Nadu at 4.18 per cent. Goa, in contrast, remained comfortably below both the national and regional averages.
Housing inflation across India stayed relatively subdued at 2.15 per cent, while restaurant and accommodation services registered inflation of 4.20 per cent. Education services recorded a rise of 3.15 per cent.
