Wholesale price-based (WPI) inflation rose to 14.23 per cent in November versus 12.54 per cent in October, government data showed on Tuesday.
WPI inflation has been coming in double digits for the trailing eight months, since the starting of the fiscal year. The WPI Inflation has been recorded THE HIGHEST since April 2005.
“The high rate of inflation is primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, basic metals, crude petroleum, natural gas, chemicals products and food,” the Commerce and Industry Ministry said in a statement.
Fuel and power prices increased 39.81 per cent against 37.18 per cent in October, while manufactured product prices saw an increase of 11.92 per cent versus 12.04 per cent in the preceding month.
Suman Chowdhury, Chief Analytical Officer, Acuité Ratings & Research, said, “The WPI print for November highlights the underlying inflationary pressures in the economy that is not apparent in the headline CPI print. While the wholesale inflation had declined to 10.66 per cent year-on-year in September, it climbed back to 12.54 per cent (YoY) in October and further to 14.23 per cent in November, the highest level seen in the current year.”
He further said, “There has been a steep sequential rise in inflation of primary articles and fuel and power which stood at 5.6 per cent for both categories which reflects the continuous rise in commodity prices including oil, coal and that of various metals. As seen in headline CPI, there has been a visible spurt in primary food articles due to the rise in vegetable prices; however, we believe this is likely to be transient due to the arrival of the Kharif crop in the market.”
In another release on Monday, the government posted the retail or consumer price-based inflation for which rose to 4.91 per cent due to an increase in vegetable prices.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) full-year outlook for the fiscal 22 at 5.3 per cent with inflation reaching its high in the fourth quarter at 5.7 per cent.