Look at both.

How to read the two numbers

• 7.8% and 6.7% are not meant to match. One is a growth rate. One is a level.
• The all-India jobless rate is 5.1%. Cities are 6.7%. City women are 8.8%. Young people in cities were 13.6% in the 2025 annual survey.
• Rural jobless is 4.5%. Farm and small-scale work pull that number down, which is why the national rate is lower than the city rate.
• The August factory survey (PMI) recorded a fall in employment — the first in 30 months. Output can still grow while headcount does not.

The table

• Economy grewApr–Jun · MoSPI7.8%
• City jobless, this JulyJul 2026 · PLFS6.7%
• City jobless, last JulyJul 2025 · PLFS7.2%
• All-India joblessJul 2026 · PLFS, age 15+5.1%
• Rural joblessJul 2026 · PLFS4.5%
• Urban womenJul 2026 · PLFS (8.7% last July)8.8%
• Urban youth, 2025PLFS annual 202513.6%
• Factory employmentAug PMI, first fall in 30 monthsDown

What would make them closer. City jobless keeping the yearly improvement, and the factory survey showing hiring rather than cuts.

How to read the two numbers

• If a raise is smaller than the price rise, the same money buys less. If they move together, buying power is about even. That is arithmetic, not a view.
• Labour Bureau rural wages grew 6.2% year-on-year in the 10 months to June 2025 — the stretch before the sampling change. CPI in July 2026 is 4.45%.
• A 17% jump in March 2026 is on the sheet. Researchers have flagged a sampling change from mid-2025, so that print is not treated as a turning point until later comparable prints confirm it.
• On the older long-run series, real rural wages (after prices) grew about 0–1% a year for a decade.

The table

• CPI inflationJul 2026 · MoSPI4.45%
• Rural wages, pre-break10 months to Jun 2025 · Labour Bureau6.2%
• RBI inflation viewFY27 average5.0%
• March 2026 wage printOn the sheet; sampling change flagged+17%
• Real rural wages, decadeLabour Bureau series, published research~0–1% / yr

What would make them closer. A wage series without a sampling break, for the same months as CPI, running near or above prices for two years.

How to read the two numbers

• The 7.1% is household spending after adjusting for prices. It includes services, housing (including an estimated rent), and mix — not only soap and biscuits.
• Grocery value grew 3% while volume grew 0.9% in Jan–Mar. The difference is price and pack size, which NielsenIQ reports separately.
• Two-wheelers +28% and cars +19% in July (units retailed). Credit growth of 18.3% is the funding backdrop for that, from RBI data.
• Packets and vehicles are the same kind of number (things sold). They are the two everyday readings inside the rupee total.

The table

• Household spendingApr–Jun, constant rupees · MoSPI+7.1%
• Grocery volumeNielsenIQ, Jan–Mar 2026+0.9%
• Grocery valueSame quarter — price and mix+3.0%
• Two-wheelersJuly units · FADA+28%
• CarsJuly units · FADA+19%
• Bank creditQ1 FY27 · RBI+18.3%

What would make them closer. Grocery volume near 5% for two quarters running, or packets and vehicles moving in a closer band.

How to read the two numbers

• Gross fixed capital formation is cement, machinery and buildings in the national accounts. It is not a census of every private factory.
• CMIE’s listed-company series slowed from 16% (Sep 2025) to 7% (Mar 2026). That is one window on private India, not the whole of it.
• Union capex was ₹4.5 lakh crore by July. Power and data centres have also been doing more of the project work, according to industry reports.

The table

• Official investmentApr–Jun · MoSPI+11.9%
• Share of the economyInvestment share of GDP34.3%
• Listed net assetsSep 2025 to Mar 2026 · CMIE16% → 7%
• Union capexApr–Jul FY27 · CGA₹4.5 lakh cr
• Factory PMIAug · still expanding, slowest in five years52.8

What would make them closer. Listed-company asset growth back in the mid-teens, and new private project announcements rising for two quarters.

How to read the two numbers

• Gross and net answer different questions. Gross is arrivals. Net subtracts profits sent home and Indian companies investing abroad — both recorded by the RBI.
• FY26 gross FDI was $94.5 billion. Net was $7.7 billion. The gap is repatriation plus outbound investment, not a third unofficial number.
• The older average, around $30 billion net a year, is a useful yardstick, not a target we set.

The table

• Net FDI, FY26After outflows · RBI$7.7 bn
• Net FDI, FY25The low year · RBI~$1 bn
• Net FDI, Q1 FY27Already last year’s total$7.8 bn
• Gross FDI, FY26Arrivals · RBI / DPIIT$94.5 bn
• Gross, Q1 FY27Highest quarter on the recent record$30.7 bn
• FY27 net viewCareEdge forecast$15 bn

What would make them closer. Net FDI running near $15 billion for the full year (the current outside forecast).