Wholesale Inflation Surges for Fourth Consecutive Month in June

Wholesale inflation in the country increased to 3.36% in June, continuing a four-month rise due to higher prices of food articles and manufactured items. The Ministry of Commerce & Industry cited rising prices in food products, crude petroleum, and natural gas as primary reasons. Retail inflation also saw a significant rise.

Wholesale inflation in the country surged for the fourth consecutive month in June, reaching 3.36 percent, driven by rising prices of food articles and manufactured products.

According to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation was 2.61 percent in May and stood at (-) 4.18 percent in June 2023, with the increase largely attributed to higher costs of food items, crude petroleum, natural gas, and other manufacturing sectors.

The data revealed a sharp rise in food articles inflation to 10.87 percent in June compared to May's 9.82 percent. Vegetable inflation soared to 38.76 percent, while onion and potato prices skyrocketed at 93.35 percent and 66.37 percent, respectively. The fuel and power sector saw a slight decline in inflation to 1.03 percent from May's 1.35 percent. Meanwhile, inflation in manufactured products climbed to 1.43 percent from 0.78 percent in May.

The trends in wholesale inflation mirrored the retail inflation data released last week, showing a four-month high of 5.1 percent in June, which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) considers in its monetary policy framework.