NEW DELHI: Wholesale price-based
inflation in India
increased for the third straight month, reaching 2.61 per cent, primarily fueled by rising
food prices
, as per government data released on Friday.
The
wholesale price
index (WPI) based
inflation
stood at 1.26 per cent in April, compared to (-) 3.61 per cent in May 2023. “Positive rate of inflation in May, 2024 is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, manufacture of food products, crude petroleum & natural gas, mineral oils, other manufacturing etc,” the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a statement.
According to the data, food sector inflation surged to 9.82 per cent in May from 7.74 per cent year-on-year price increase, a notable growth observed in April.
Vegetable inflation soared to 32.42 per cent in May, up from 23.60 per cent in the previous month, with onion inflation at 58.05 per cent and potato inflation at 64.05 per cent. Pulses also experienced a significant increase, with inflation rising to 21.95 per cent in May.
The fuel and power basket saw a slight decrease in inflation, standing at 1.35 percent in May compared to 1.38 percent in April. In the manufactured products category, inflation rose to 0.78 percent from (-) 0.42 percent in April.
The increase in May’s WPI contrasts with the retail inflation data for the same month, which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) primarily considers when formulating monetary policy.
Despite the overall inflationary pressures, India’s retail inflation rate experienced a modest decline in May, settling at 4.75%, partly due to decrease in fuel prices, although prices remained at elevated levels, as indicated by government data released on Wednesday. The RBI maintained interest rates unchanged for the eighth consecutive time earlier this month.
(With inputs from agencies)
