The wholesale price-based inflation rose to a 11-month-high at 2.03% in January this year, as compared to 1.22% in December, showed data released by the government on Monday. This was mainly due to an increase in the prices of manufactured goods. The WPI inflation, an indicator of prices in the wholesale market, for January 2020 was 3.52%.
This is the highest level of WPI inflation since February last year when the figure was 2.26%, according to CNBC-TV18.
The rate of inflation based on WPI Food Index decreased from 0.92% in December to -0.26% in January. For manufactured products, the inflation rose to 5.13% in January, as compared to 4.24% in December.
The index for the fuel and power group contracted by 4.78%, as against a reduction of 8.72% in December.
The price of primary articles fell to -2.24%, as compared to -1.61% in December. “Prices of Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas (9.48%) and Minerals (2.67%) increased in January, 2021 as compared to December, 2020,” the government said. “Prices of Non-food Articles (-0.43%) and Food Articles (-2.99%) declined in January, 2021 as compared to December, 2020.”
Meanwhile, data released last week showed that inflation based on Consumer Price Index, known as retail inflation, for the month of January eased to 4.06% from 4.59% in December. Retail inflation, an indicator of price rise, came down for the second straight month, since it rose to 7.61% in October – a high of more than six years.
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