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US-Iran war: SBI Research outlines how imported inflation can vary across states
Sanjeev Kumar | April 7, 2026 11:21 AM CST

Kolkata: The US-Iran war shows no sign of ending despite both sides offering a few points to end the conflict which the other side has promptly turned down as inadequate. The biggest cost of the war for the rest of the world has been a surge in energy prices which has been caused by crude oil prices jumping from the level of $70 a barrel to well above $100 a barrel. Inflation that is imported in the country through a rise in prices of commodities outside the country is referred to as imported inflation. SBI Research has quantified how imported inflation can impact differenth states of the country differently, though the government has so far resisted any rise in the retail prices of petrol and diesel. However, the Centre has raised LPG cylinder prices for both the domestic consumers (once since the war began) and commercial consumers (twice since Feb 27). Let’s have a look how the imported inflation has impacted the different states of India. It gives a clear idea that the impact of the war on the Indian states is going to vary widely.

Imported inflation in different states

In its note, SBI Research has mentioned that imported inflation is far more than the CPI inflation now. While the headline CPI inflation stands at 3.21%, the imported inflation in 5.36%. “Based on the selected items we have calculated the state-wise imported inflation to understand how the current global situation may impact states’ imported inflation. Except a few states like WB, Punjab, Nagaland, etc all other states have greater imported inflation compared to overall inflation…. It is even more than 6% in MP, UP, AP, Rajasthan, TN,” mentioned the agency. The data for imported inflation is till Feb 2026.

Statewise figures

SBI Research has published a list of states suffering from imported inflation. In the data which is till Feb 2026, Telangana is on top. It suffers an imported inflation which is far more than 10%. The lowest incidence of imported inflation is witnessed in Mizoram — it is close to 1%. In the states of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, imported inflation is higher than 6% (which happens to be the upper limit of tolerance for retail inflation for RBI).

In terms of imported inflation in the 6%-3% bracket, the states in descending order are Karnataka, Sikkim, Odisha, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, J&K. Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, NST of Delhi, Assam and West Bengal.

In the bracket below 3% are the states Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Tripura, Nagaland, Goa and Mizoram (in descending order). The source of the data is from NSO and SBI Research.


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