Wholesale Inflation Rises In September: WPI Spikes From 1.31% To 1.84%

With the consumer price index numbers for September yet to be disclosed, the authorities have released the Wholesale numbers for the 9th month of the year.

Wholesale Inflation Rises

The Wholesale Price Index numbers indicated a rise in the wholesale inflation rate in the country. The inflation rate for September stood at 1.81 per cent. This is greater than the previous month's rate of 1.31 per cent. This marked an increase of 38 per cent in the WPI rate.

The current rise in the rate is largely attributed to food articles, food products and other manufacturing products.

Here the major focus is on the rise of WPI in primary articles. Here primary articles include food articles, non-food articles minerals, crude petroleum & natural gas.

The WPI on these primary articles stood at 6.59 per cent in September, compared to 2.42 per cent in the month of August. The food index stood at 9.47 per cent, compared to 3.26 per cent in the previous month.

Coming to specifics, when we look at the primary items in question, food items saw an inflation rate of 11.53 per cent. This is much higher than the 3.79 per cent in September 2023.

Onion-Potato Conundrum

When it comes to the two staple items in an average Indian kitchen, the rate of inflation on potatoes and onions rose. The rate of inflation on potato stood at 78.13 per cent. When it comes to onion, it could make one cry with the rate of inflation of 78.82 per cent.

Another important item in the pantry, milk saw its inflation rate at 3.17 per cent, lower than the 8.76 in September 2023.

The rate of inflation on fruits stood at 12.17 per cent in September.

The inflation rate on Eggs, Fish and meat stood at -0.80 per cent.

Fuel & Power Inflation Dips

The rate of inflation on Fuel and Power stood at -4.05 per cent. However, it needs otbe noted that rate on Liquified Petroluem Gas or LPG, stood at 13.18 per cent compared to petrol and HSD or High-Speed Diesel, which had a rate of inflation of -7.47 per cent or -5.33 per cent, respectively.