India Wholesale Price Inflation Climbs To 2.36%, More Than Expected

(RTTNews) - India's wholesale price inflation accelerated further in October to the highest level in four months amid higher costs for food and primary articles, provisional data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry revealed on Thursday.

The wholesale price index, or WPI, rose 2.36 percent year-over-year in October, faster than the 1.84 percent increase in September. Economists had expected inflation to rise to 2.20 percent.

Prices for primary articles grew at an accelerated pace of 8.1 percent in October versus a 6.6 percent gain in the prior month. Similarly, the yearly price growth in the food index quickened to 11.59 percent from 9.47 percent.

Data showed that costs for manufactured products rose at a slightly faster rate of 1.5 percent after a 1.0 percent increase in the preceding month. On the other hand, prices for fuel and power continued to fall sharply by 5.79 percent.

On a monthly basis, wholesale prices moved up 0.97 percent from September, when they increased by 0.52 percent.

Data released earlier this week showed that India's consumer price inflation accelerated to a 14-month high of 6.21 percent in October from 5.49 percent in September amid rising food costs. With this, consumer price inflation is now placed above the Reserve Bank's target band of 2-6 percent.