Wholesale Inflation Rises To 3.1% In January

Data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Friday showed that the annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI (Wholesale Price Index), stood at 3.1 percent for January when compared to 2.59 percent in December and 2.76 percent in the same month of the previous year.

Build up inflation rate in the current financial year so far is 2.50 percent compared to 2.49 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The index for the "primary articles" declined by 1.1 percent to 147.2 from 148.8 in December with sub-index on 'Food Articles' group falling by 1 percent to 160.8 from 162.5 in the previous month as prices of fruits, vegetables, tea, arhar, beef, pork and gram eased.

The index for ' Non-Food Articles' group dropped by 1.4 percent to 132.1 in January from 134.0 in the previous month, led by decline in prices of floriculture, castor seed and skins (raw) by 1 percent each.

However, fuel and power saw a 1.4 percent rise in its index to 102.7 from 101.3 in December while the index for manufactured products rose by 0.4 percent to 118.5 in January.

Earlier this week, the government released retail inflation data (CPI) that rose to 7.59 percent in January, the highest since May 2014 and the second consecutive month that CPI has breached upper band of RBI's inflation target.