WPI Inflation Rate Rises To 13.11% In February After Spike In Fuel Prices

India Annual Inflation: The central bank had decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent for the 10th time in a row to support growth and manage inflationary pressure.

Indian labourers unload sacks of onions from a truck at wholesale market (File photo: AFP)

New Delhi: Wholesale price-based inflation increased to 13.11 percent in February, according to data released by the Commerce Ministry on March 14. According to these figures, this increase was seen in the wholesale inflation rate due to the rise in the prices of food items. In this way, the Wholesale Inflation remained in double digits for the 11th consecutive month since April 2021.

"The high rate of inflation in February 2022, is primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, basic metals, chemicals and chemical products, crude petroleum & natural gas, food articles and non-food articles etc as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year," the Commerce and Industry Ministry said in a statement as quoted by news agency ANI.

WPI Inflation in January

In January, the wholesale inflation rate stood at 12.96 per cent. Prior to that in December 2021, it was at 13.56 per cent. According to the statement issued by the government, the prices of mineral oil, basic metals, chemicals and chemical products, crude petroleum and natural gas, food articles and non-food articles increased sharply as compared to the same month last year. The inflation rate remained high.

Meanwhile, inflation in food articles declined to 8.19 per cent in February as compared to January. Inflation in food articles stood at 10.33 per cent in January. Wholesale inflation of vegetables has come down from 38.45 per cent in January to 26.93 per cent in February.

In February, the wholesale price of onion saw a decline of 26.37 percent. At the same time, there was a jump of 14.78 percent in the price of potatoes. There was a jump of 8.14 percent in the price of eggs, meat and fish, while the price of wheat saw a jump of 11.03 percent. Wheat prices all over the world have seen a jump due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis.

RBI did not change interest rates

It is worth noting here that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) did not make any changes in the key repo rate in the monetary policy meeting in February. The central bank had decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent for the 10th time in a row to support growth and manage inflationary pressure.