WPI: Wholesale Inflation Rises For The Second Straight Month In Sept

Wholesale Price Index (WPI), used to measure wholesale inflation, rose to 1.32 percent in September from 0.16 percent in August, as per index numbers of wholesale price released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry released on Wednesday.

WPI rose for the second straight month since March after being in the negative territory for four months. In July 2020, the index declined 0.25 percent while in September 2019, it rose 0.33 percent.

The rise in wholesale inflation in September was due to a sharp increase in prices of primary articles, that constitute food articles, crude and minerals, at 5.10 percent from the previous month. In August, there was a 1.60 percent rise in their prices.

Prices of Food Articles rose 3.70 percent, Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas was up 1.41 percent and Minerals by 0.12 percent, when compared to August. Prices of Non-food Articles declined 0.94 percent.

The annual rate of inflation based on WPI Food Index increased from 4.07 percent in August to 6.92 percent in September.

On the other hand, Fuel & Power category of commodities declined 9.68 percent from August.

Prices of Manufactured Products rose 1.61 percent from the previous month.