WPI inflation zooms to 9-mth high in November

Retail inflation declined to 6.93 per cent in November on softer food prices, though it remained above the comfort level of the Reserve Bank. Retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 7.61 per cent in October. According to the CPI data released by the government on Monday, inflation in the food basket was 9.43 per cent in November, down from 11 per cent in the previous month.

New Delhi: The wholesale price-based inflation rose to a 9-month high of 1.55 per cent in November on costlier manufactured items, even as food prices cooled. The WPI inflation was 1.48 per cent in October 2020 and 0.58 per cent in November last year. This is the highest level of wholesale price index-based (WPI) inflation since February, when it was 2.26 per cent. While food articles saw softening in inflation in November, manufactured items witnessed hardening of prices.

Food inflation in November stood at 3.94 per cent, against 6.37 per cent in the previous month. The rate of price rise in vegetables and potatoes remained high at 12.24 per cent and 115.12 per cent during the month.

Inflation in non-food articles was higher at 8.43 per cent in November, while in fuel and power basket it was (-) 9.87 per cent. ICRA Principal Economist Aditi Nayar said with a sharp and fairly broad-based month-on-month increase of 0.8 per cent, the core-WPI inflation rose to a 22-month high of 2.6 per cent in November 2020.