This article lists the historical Cost Inflation Index (CII) values since 1981 which are to be used for capital gains tax calculation for assets purchased before 2001.

📚 Table of Contents

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• Understanding the Cost Inflation Index
• Historical Cost Inflation Index (CII) table from 1981 to 2016
• How to merge the old and new CII series data?
• What is the value of something today that was ₹1000 in 1981?

Understanding the Cost Inflation Index

The Cost Inflation Index (CII) is a number published by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) for every financial year that is used to calculate capital gains on selling a capital asset like real estate, mutual funds, stocks or bonds.

The CII figure is published at the beginning of every financial year. It is used to rebase the purchase price of a capital asset, utilising the concept of indexation. The CII figure may be taken as a proxy for inflation. To understand how CII models inflation, have a look at how the value of ₹1,000 has changed over the years as per CII changes.

The incometax website has CII data from 1981 onwards. In this article we have shown the CII values since 1981 so that you can calculate the capital gains tax for assets purchased before 2001. Please note that the formal guidance, as per income tax laws, is to use the fair market value of the asset in 2001, as per the report from an approved assessor for capital gain tax purpose.

Historical Cost Inflation Index (CII) table from 1981 to 2016

Serial #	Financial Year	CII	%ch	Worth of ₹1000
1	1981-82	100	0.00%	1000.0
2	1982-83	109	9.00%	917.4
3	1983-84	116	6.42%	862.1
4	1984-85	125	7.76%	800.0
5	1985-86	133	6.40%	751.9
6	1986-87	140	5.26%	714.3
7	1987-88	150	7.14%	666.7
8	1988-89	161	7.33%	621.1
9	1989-90	172	6.83%	581.4
10	1990-91	182	5.81%	549.5
11	1991-92	199	9.34%	502.5
12	1992-93	223	12.06%	448.4
13	1993-94	244	9.42%	409.8
14	1994-95	259	6.15%	386.1
15	1995-96	281	8.49%	355.9
16	1996-97	305	8.54%	327.9
17	1997-98	331	8.52%	302.1
18	1998-99	351	6.04%	284.9
19	1999-00	389	10.83%	257.1
20	2000-01	406	4.37%	246.3
21	2001-02	426	4.93%	234.7
22	2002-03	447	4.93%	223.7
23	2003-04	463	3.58%	216.0
24	2004-05	480	3.67%	208.3
25	2005-06	497	3.54%	201.2
26	2006-07	519	4.43%	192.7
27	2007-08	551	6.17%	181.5
28	2008-09	582	5.63%	171.8
29	2009-10	632	8.59%	158.2
30	2010-11	711	12.50%	140.6
31	2011-12	785	10.41%	127.4
32	2012-13	852	8.54%	117.4
33	2013-14	939	10.21%	106.5
34	2014-15	1024	9.05%	97.7
35	2015-16	1081	5.57%	92.5
36	2016-17	1125	4.07%	88.9

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Source: https://incometaxindia.gov.in/Documents/Cost-Inflation-Index-upto-FY-2016-17.htm

This data is now superseded by a new series from 2001 onwards: How to use the Cost Inflation Index (CII): latest value and historical rates.

How to merge the old and new CII series data?

We have taken the CII data table from both 1981 and 2001 and continued the 1981 series using the same percentage changes in the new series from 2017 onwards. The merged table looks like this:

Serial #	Financial Year	CII	%ch	Worth of ₹1000
1	1981-82	100	0.00%	1000.0
2	1982-83	109	9.00%	917.4
3	1983-84	116	6.42%	862.1
4	1984-85	125	7.76%	800.0
5	1985-86	133	6.40%	751.9
6	1986-87	140	5.26%	714.3
7	1987-88	150	7.14%	666.7
8	1988-89	161	7.33%	621.1
9	1989-90	172	6.83%	581.4
10	1990-91	182	5.81%	549.5
11	1991-92	199	9.34%	502.5
12	1992-93	223	12.06%	448.4
13	1993-94	244	9.42%	409.8
14	1994-95	259	6.15%	386.1
15	1995-96	281	8.49%	355.9
16	1996-97	305	8.54%	327.9
17	1997-98	331	8.52%	302.1
18	1998-99	351	6.04%	284.9
19	1999-00	389	10.83%	257.1
20	2000-01	406	4.37%	246.3
21	2001-02	426	4.93%	234.7
22	2002-03	447	4.93%	223.7
23	2003-04	463	3.58%	216.0
24	2004-05	480	3.67%	208.3
25	2005-06	497	3.54%	201.2
26	2006-07	519	4.43%	192.7
27	2007-08	551	6.17%	181.5
28	2008-09	582	5.63%	171.8
29	2009-10	632	8.59%	158.2
30	2010-11	711	12.50%	140.6
31	2011-12	785	10.41%	127.4
32	2012-13	852	8.54%	117.4
33	2013-14	939	10.21%	106.5
34	2014-15	1024	9.05%	97.7
35	2015-16	1081	5.57%	92.5
36	2016-17	1125	4.07%	88.9
37	2017-18	1159	3.03%	86.3
38	2018-19	1193	2.94%	83.8
39	2019-20	1232	3.21%	81.2
40	2020-21	1283	4.15%	78.0
41	2021-22	1351	5.32%	74.0
42	2022-23	1411	4.42%	70.9
43	2023-24	1483	5.14%	67.4
44	2024-25	1547	4.31%	64.6

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What is the value of something today that was ₹1000 in 1981?

The value of something that cost ₹1000 in FY 1981-82 would be around ₹ 15470 today.

Since the index started in FY 1981-82, we can think that the value of the Rupee has steadily decreased as per the change in the CII index. If the value of something was ₹100 when CII was 200, then that item should cost around ₹150 when CII rises to 300 (150 = 100 * 300/200). This is of course an approximation. The actual increase would depend on the product and the time period considered.

This result shows the impact of inflation very prominently. If the same trends continue for the next 40 years, then a ₹1 lakh/month lifestyle will jump to ₹15 lakhs per month. Our retirement corpus has to fund that lifestyle: Low-stress retirement planning calculations: worked out example.