India’s wholesale inflation rises to 0.52 in August, ending two-month negative streak

The Indian government released the wholesale price index (WPI) data for August on Monday, September 15. The August WPI came at 0.52%. The government attributes the positive rate of inflation to an increase in the prices of food products, other manufacturing, non-food articles, other non-metallic mineral products and other transport equipment etc.

In July, the wholesale inflation came in at a two-year low of -0.58%. The WPI fell to a 20-month of low of -0.13% in June.

The Wholesale Price Index, or WPI, measures the change in prices of goods that wholesale businesses sell to and trade in bulk with other companies. Unlike the CPI, which tracks prices of goods and services purchased by consumers, WPI tracks factory gate prices before retail prices.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry releases WPI. Under the index, commodities are categorised into three groups — primary articles (which are further divided into food and non-food articles), fuel and power and manufactured products, and the base year for the index is 2011-12.

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