The wholesale price inflation (WPI) rate based on the 2022-23 series rose to its highest level of 11.39 per cent in September from 9.92 per cent in August, driven by a broad-based pick-up in prices of food, fuel and manufactured goods, according to government data released on Wednesday.
The all-commodities index rose to 112.5 in September from 110.8 in August. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry also released India’s goods output producer price index (PPI), which rose to 112.5 in September, taking the PPI inflation rate to 11.39 per cent from 9.81 per cent in August.
Fuel and power inflation rose to 25.85 per cent in September from 22.93 per cent in August as crude petroleum and natural gas inflation surged to 57.32 per cent from 34.41 per cent. Coal and lignite inflation also rose to 9.31 per cent from 1.57 per cent, while mineral oil inflation moved up to 40.02 per cent from 38.48 per cent. Electricity inflation remained negative at 0.43 per cent, but the contraction in electricity prices eased from 1.73 per cent in August.
The surge in fuel and power inflation comes after a period of moderation between May and August. This was primarily driven by the crude petroleum and natural gas category, where inflation eased from 61.51 per cent in May before seeing a sharp uptick in September.
For primary articles, inflation rose to 8.67 per cent in September, the highest in the new series, from 7.76 per cent in August. Within the group, food inflation jumped to a 21-month high of 8.14 per cent from 5.67 per cent in August, while minerals inflation rose to 9.51 per cent from 8.24 per cent, which more than offset the moderation in non-food inflation to 10.28 per cent from 14.79 per cent in August.
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The rate for manufactured products, which carry a weight of 63.1 per cent, rose to 9.76 per cent from 8.37 per cent — the highest in the current 2022–23 series. Within manufactured products, textiles, wearing apparel, chemicals and chemical products, basic metals, and electrical equipment witnessed a hardening in prices during the month. There was also a significant rise in inflation for computer, electronic, and optical products, which rose to 4 per cent after contracting for several months.
Among output PPI major groups, the indices for agriculture, forestry and fishing; mining and quarrying; manufactured products; and electricity stood at 118.7, 129.2, 111 and 92, respectively, in September, against 116.5, 122, 109.7 and 90.9 in August.
The trial input PPI for manufacturing, published on an experimental basis since March, rose to 106.1 in September from 104.2 in August.