Wholesale inflation soars to 6-month high of 3.59 per cent in October

Mumbai: Wholesale inflation in the month of October grew to 3.59 per cent driven by higher fuel and food products.

Wholesale inflation had cooled to 2.6 per cent in the month of September. It stood at 1.27 per cent in October, 2016.

Wholesale inflation rate, measured by WPI, measures changes in prices for bulk buys for traders and broadly reflects the price trend for consumers.

The price data released by the commerce ministry on Tuesday showed that inflation in food articles more than doubled to 4.30 per cent in October. In the case of vegetables, prices soared to 36.61 per cent in October as against 15.48 per cent in September.

In case of onions, prices shot through the roof to 127.04 per cent. Prices of eggs, meat and fish rose at 5.76 per cent.

Inflation in the case of primary articles rose 3.33 per cent in October from 0.15 per cent in September.

On Monday, data released by the government showed that consumer price inflation had risen to a seven-month-high of 3.58 per cent in October.

Prices of manufactured products dipped marginally to 2.62 per cent, as against 2.72 per cent in September.

The fuel and power segment, saw prices rising 10.52 per cent, as against 9.01 per cent in September. Fuel inflation has been on the rise for the past three months as petrol and diesel prices soared in sync with global crude oil rates.

The uptick in prices makes the case for an interest rate-cut in December difficult when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will be meeting for its monetary policy review. The RBI at its previous meet in October had flagged price rise as an area of concern and a reason for keeping the lending rate unchanged at 6 per cent.