# Inflation by year

> Pick an amount and a year to see what it is worth in later prices, using official consumer price data for India and the US.

Canonical: https://www.moneyplain.app/tools/inflation-by-year

What rupees or dollars from any year since 1960 are worth now. This is an interactive calculator that runs in the browser: [open it](https://www.moneyplain.app/tools/inflation-by-year) to try your own numbers.

## How this works

`amount × CPI(later year) ÷ CPI(earlier year)`, where CPI is the consumer price index: the price of a fixed basket of everyday goods and services, measured every year.

### What it assumes

- India: the [World Bank consumer price index for India](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/FP.CPI.TOTL?locations=IN) (CC BY 4.0), which carries India's official CPI back to 1960. Today's headline CPI is published by [MOSPI](https://www.mospi.gov.in/).
- US: the [Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U](https://www.bls.gov/cpi/), the index behind the headline US inflation rate.
- Annual averages, not a single month, so a figure for one month of a year can differ a little.
- The basket is an average household's. Your own costs, such as rent, school fees or healthcare, may have risen faster or slower.

### Worked example

$100 in 1990 had the buying power of about **$246** in 2025. Prices in the US rose an average of 2.6% a year in between.

₹1,000 in 2000 had the buying power of about **₹4,289** in 2025. Prices in India rose an average of 6.0% a year in between.

### Learn the idea behind it

- [Inflation: the quiet tax](https://www.moneyplain.app/learn/inflation)
- [How money actually works](https://www.moneyplain.app/learn/how-money-works)

Terms used here: [Inflation](https://www.moneyplain.app/glossary#inflation), [Purchasing power](https://www.moneyplain.app/glossary#purchasing-power), [Real return](https://www.moneyplain.app/glossary#real-return), [Nominal](https://www.moneyplain.app/glossary#nominal).

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Educational content only; not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Numbers are simplified illustrations, not predictions. Source: Moneyplain (https://www.moneyplain.app/).