India’s wholesale inflation rose to 10.49% in April, up from 7.39% in March, showed data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday. The inflation in April was the highest in 11 years, according to Bloomberg.

Wholesale inflation, measured by wholesale price index, has been on the rise since December. In March, it rose to the highest in eight years.

“The annual rate of inflation in April 2021 is high primarily because of rise in prices of crude petroleum, mineral oils viz petrol, diesel etc, and manufactured products as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year,” the Commerce and Industry Ministry said.

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The wholesale inflation in April 2020 was -1.57%. The low base year also contributed to the sharp increase in inflation this April.

Inflation in the fuel and power segment rose to 20.94%. Prices of manufactured products, which have 64% weightage in the WPI index, grew 9.01%, while food inflation rose to 4.92%.

The food articles segment recorded a 4.92% rise in April. In the month prior to that, this was 3.24%. Vegetable prices contracted 9.03% in April, against a contraction of 5.19% in March. Prices of pulses grew 10.74% in April, while that of fruits rose 27.43% and eggs, meat and fish grew 10.88%.

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Meanwhile, retail inflation, which is measured by the Consumer Price Index, slowed to 4.29% in April from 5.52% recorded in March, owing to a drop in food prices, data released by the government on May 12 had shown.

Earlier in May, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das had said that the Purchasing Managers’ Index in the manufacturing and service sectors along with rising Wholesale Price Index inflation showed a persistence of input price pressure, according to PTI.

Das had added that the inflation trajectory in 2021 would be shaped by coronavirus cases and the impact of localised containment measures on supply chains.