Wholesale inflation Rises For Third Straight Month In May At 2.61%, Food Items Costlier

The wholesale inflation rose for the third consecutive month in May at 2.61 percent on account of the rise in prices of food articles, especially vegetables, and manufactured items. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation was 1.26 percent in the previous month. It was (-) 3.61 percent in May 2023.

"Positive rate of inflation in May 2024 is primarily due to increasing 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 on Friday.

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As per the data, inflation in food articles rose 9.82 percent in May, as against 7.74 percent in April. Inflation in vegetables was 32.42 percent in May, up from 23.60 percent in the previous month. Onion inflation was at 58.05 percent, while potato was at 64.05 percent. Pulses inflation rose 21.95 percent in May.

In the fuel and power basket, inflation stood at 1.35 percent, marginally lower than 1.38 percent in April. In manufactured products, inflation was at 0.78 percent, higher than (-) 0.42 percent in April. The rise in May WPI is in contrast to the retail inflation data for the month. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mainly takes into account retail inflation while framing monetary policy.

Retail inflation eased to 1 1-year low of 4.75 percent in May, data released earlier this week showed. The RBI earlier this month kept the interest rate unchanged for the eighth time in a row. 

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Disclaimer: This story has been directly published from the agency feed. No changes have been made.