Prices of food articles as a basket rose 0.14% in September, as against a fall of 2.25% a month ago.
New Delhi: With fuel prices reaching new heights every other day, wholesale inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) stood at 5.13% in September as compared to 4.53% in August.
According to provisional government data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, prices of primary articles — including food articles — which account for more than a fifth of the entire wholesale price index, rose 2.97%, as against a fall of 0.15% in August, as items such as paddy, wheat, potatoes, oilseeds, and crude petroleum became more expensive.
Prices of food articles as a basket rose 0.14% in September, as against a fall of 2.25% a month ago.
The WPI helps you track price movements in bulk buys for traders and broadly mirrors trends in shop-end prices.
Prices of fuel and power, which together have a weightage of 13.15% on the WPI, grew at 16.65% in September, as against a rise of 17.73% in August.
Petrol prices rose 17.21% in September, as against a 16.30% in August. Any rise in prices of crude oil directly impacts inflation in India as the country meets most of its domestic demand for the commodity by importing it. Also, the recent depreciation of the rupee has only added to India's fiscal woes by increasing its import bill.
Potatoes continued to remain expensive, with their prices rising 80.13% in September as against 71.89% in August. Wheat prices rose 8.87% in September, as against a fall of 1.71% in the corresponding period a year ago.
Prices of crude petroleum rose 47.83% in the month gone by, as against a fall of 3.39% in September last year and a rise of 53.47% in August this year.
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