India's Rupee Undervalued by Nearly 60% Against Dollar: Big Mac Index

The Big Mac index, created by Pam Woodall in 1986, has been tracking the value of currencies against the price of a standardized burger for four decades.

The index tests purchasing-power parity, which suggests that a currency should buy roughly the same basket of goods everywhere. A Big Mac, sold to the same specifications worldwide, serves as a proxy for this basket.

In its January 2026 dataset, The Economist found that India's Maharaja Mac costs $2.51, compared to $6.12 in the United States, indicating an undervaluation of the rupee by 58.9% against the dollar.

The spread between burger prices is significant: a Big Mac costing $9.08 in Switzerland compares to $2.47 in Taiwan, a gap of over six dollars.

India's rupee has been consistently undervalued on this measure, with the GDP-adjusted index showing an estimated 44.8% discount against the dollar, a record and a steady worsening from the 6.9% reading in January 2018.