Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation returned to positive territory in August, rising to 0.52% after two consecutive months of deflation, according to government data released on Monday. The increase was largely driven by higher prices of food products, manufactured items, non-food articles, non-metallic minerals, and transport equipment, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.
WPI inflation had stood at (-)0.58% in July and (-)0.19% in June, compared to 1.25% in August last year. Deflation in food articles eased to 3.06% in August from 6.29% in July, with vegetables showing a sharp price spike — deflation in vegetables narrowed to 14.18% from 28.96% a month earlier.
Manufactured products saw inflation rise to 2.55% in August from 2.05% in July, while fuel and power recorded a deflation of 3.17%, compared to 2.43% in the previous month.
Retail inflation, which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tracks for its policy decisions, inched up to 2.07% in August after declining for nine months since November 2024, driven by rising prices of vegetables, meat, fish, and eggs. The RBI had kept the benchmark policy rate unchanged at 5.5% last month.