Wholesale inflation reached a 15-month high of 2.61% in May, due to rising prices of food items
WPI: Wholesale inflation reached a 15-month high of 2.61 percent in May due to rising prices of food items. Wholesale food inflation rose to 7.4 percent in May, up from 5.5 percent in April and 4.82 percent in May 2023.

The country's wholesale inflation rate hit a 15-month high of 2.61% in May. It was 1.26% in April. Wholesale food inflation reached 7.4 percent in May, up from 5.5 percent in April and 4.82 percent in May 2023. Wholesale prices rose 0.2 percent on a monthly basis in May.
In May, Wholesale Price Index-based inflation grew for the third consecutive month to 2.61 percent, driven by rising food costs, particularly vegetables and manufactured products. The prior month's Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation rate was 1.26 percent. It was (-) 3.61% in May 2023.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement on Friday, "The positive rate of inflation in May 2024 is mainly due to the increase in prices of food items, food products manufacturing, crude petroleum and natural gas, mineral oils, other manufacturing, etc."
According to the data, food inflation rose 9.82 percent in May as against 7.74 percent in April. Vegetable inflation stood at 32.42 percent in May as against 23.60 percent in the previous month. Onion inflation stood at 58.05 percent and potato inflation stood at 64.05 percent. Inflation in pulses rose by 21.95 percent in May.
Inflation in the fuel and electricity basket stood at 1.35 percent, slightly lower than the inflation of 1.38 percent in April. Inflation in manufactured products rose to 0.78 percent from (-) 0.42 percent in April.
The rise in the wholesale price index in May is in contrast to the retail inflation data for this month. The Reserve Bank of India mainly takes into account retail inflation while formulating monetary policy.
Retail inflation fell to a one-year low of 4.75 percent in May, according to data released earlier this week. The RBI kept the interest rate unchanged for the eighth consecutive time earlier this month.