India's Wholesale Price Inflation Rises in January

New Delhi: India's annual rate of inflation based on wholesale prices rose to 5.25 per cent during last month from 3.39 per cent reported for December 2016, official data showed on Tuesday.

According to the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, the annual inflation rate was (-)1.07 per cent in January, 2016.

The wholesale inflation for food articles declined by (-)0.56 per cent during the month under review from (-)0.70 per cent in December and 6.46 per cent recorded for January, 2016.

However, expenses on primary articles, which constitute 20.12 per cent of the WPI's total weight, rose by 1.27 per cent during January.

On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the annual wholesale inflation rate for onion was lower by (-)28.86 per cent and that for potatoes stood at (-)0.20 per cent. Overall, vegetable prices came down by (-)32.32 per cent.

In contrast, the inflation rate on January-on-January basis for pulses stood at 6.21 per cent, while wheat became expensive by 9.49 per cent and protein-based food items such as eggs, meat and fish became dearer by 3.59 per cent.

Prices of manufactured products, which comprise nearly 65 per cent of the index, continued to rise for the tenth straight month, going up by 3.99 per cent last month.

The prices in this category had risen by 3.67 per cent in December.

The sub-category of manufactured food products, which includes sugar and edible oils, registered a rise of 10.07 per cent.

This was mainly caused by a spurt in sugar prices, which rose by 22.83 per cent as a result of production shortages. Edible oils rose by 6.25 per cent.

Similarly, fuel and power price inflation accelerated in January. It edged up by 18.14 per cent, as compared to a rise of 8.65 per cent reported during the last month of 2016 and (-)9.89 per cent in January.

Segment-wise, price of high-speed diesel rose by 31.10 per cent last month, while that for gasoline or petrol climbed by 15.66 per cent and for LPG by 1.52 per cent.

On Monday, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reported that India's annual retail inflation eased to 3.17 per cent in January from 3.41 per cent in December and 5.69 per cent reported during the corresponding period last year.