Higher food and fuel prices led India’s wholesale price index-based inflation to increase by 3.24% year-on-year in August. In 2016, it was at 1.09%.
It is the fastest increase in four months. Before this, the WPI-based inflation was at its highest in April at 3.85%.
The central government on Thursday released information about the wholesale price index with 2011-2012 as the base year. Wholesale food prices in August rose 4.41% compared to 2016. In July, it had jumped 2.12%. While prices of food articles increased by 5.75%, those of vegetables rose by 44.91% and onions 88.46%. However, potato inflation declined by 43.8%.
“Primary items such as perishables and oil seeds, as well as the global price rise in fuels and metals, drove a large part of the increase in WPI inflation in August,” Aditi Nayar, principal economist at credit rating agency ICRA said to The Economic Times.
The WPI index rose by 1.88% in July compared to a 0.63% increase in July 2016. The rise was attributed to the introduction of the Goods and Services tax that saw prices of commodities soaring.
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