Sharp spike in food prices bumps WPI inflation to 1.84% in September | Economy & Policy News | shahzadsoft tech a General Blogging Website

India’s wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation saw a slight increase in September to 1.84 per cent. Photo: Shutterstock

2 min read Last Updated : Oct 14 2024 | 12:33 PM IST

India’s wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation saw a slight increase in September to 1.84 per cent from 1.31 per cent in August, primarily due to a sharp spike in food prices.

Food price inflation surged to 11.53 per cent during the month compared to 3.11 per cent in August, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday showed. According to the data, prices of other major sub-indices like manufactured products witnessed deceleration, while prices of fuel and power contracted further during the month.

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The spike in food articles was driven by sharp acceleration in the prices of onions (78.8 per cent), vegetables (48.7 per cent), and potatoes (78.1 per cent). While the prices of fruits (12.2 per cent), pulses (12.99 per cent), cereals (8.08 per cent), and paddy (8.07 per cent) decelerated during the month, they remained high.

On the other hand, manufactured products, which have a weight of 64.2 per cent in the index, saw a further decline in inflation to 1 per cent from 1.22 per cent in the preceding month. This was led by a deceleration in the prices of textiles, wood products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and rubber products, among other manufactured goods.

Meanwhile, prices of manufactured food products saw an acceleration, with inflation rising to 5.5 per cent in September.

Factory gate prices of fuel and power (-4.05 per cent) continued to contract in September, with the prices of high-speed diesel (-5.33 per cent) and petrol (-7.47 per cent) also seeing further contraction. The prices of cooking gas (13.18 per cent) decelerated slightly.

This increase in factory gate inflation comes days after an unfavourable base effect and a slowdown in economic activities led to a contraction in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) on a year-on-year basis in August for the first time in 22 months. Last week, the central bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) also kept the policy rate unchanged.

First Published: Oct 14 2024 | 12:33 PM IST