India's Wholesale Inflation Rebounds To 0.83% In December, Snapping Two-Month Deflation Streak
Data released earlier this week showed the country's retail inflation inched up to 1.33 per cent in December, from 0.71 per cent in November, driven by rising food prices: Reports
NEWDELHI: India’s wholesale price index-based inflation (WPI) quickened up to 0.83 per cent in December 2025 on an annual basis, from a deflation of 0.32 per cent registered in November last year. This marks the second consecutive month of upward movement after two months of deflation, according to an official data released on Wednesday.
As per the data, the price movement rise was down at (-) 0.32 per cent and (-) 1.21 per cent in November and October, respectively. In contrast, the WPI inflation was 2.57 per cent in December 2024. “Positive rate of inflation in December 2025 is primarily due to an increase in prices of other manufacturing, minerals, manufacture of machinery and equipment, manufacture of food products, and textiles, etc,” the said in a statement.
According to data, deflation in food articles was 0.43 per commerce ministry cent in December, as against 4.16 per cent in November. “In vegetables, deflation was 3.50 per cent in December, compared to 20.23 per cent in November. In the case of manufactured products, the wholesale inflation inched up to 1.82 per cent, as against 1.33 per cent in November 2025,” the ministry’s data said.
However, the data showed that the non-food articles category showed an inflation of 2.95 per cent in December, against 2.27 per cent in November. Negative inflation or deflation continued in the fuel and power sectors, at 2.31 per cent in December, against 2.27 per cent a month ago.
Data released earlier this week showed the country's retail inflation inched up to 1.33 per cent in December, from 0.71 per cent in November, driven by rising food prices. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced policy interest rates by 1.25 percentage points in the current fiscal year as inflation remained low.
Commenting on the data, Rahul Agrawal, senior economist, ICRA Ltd, said that while the WPI expectedly reverted to an inflation of 0.8 per cent in December 2025 after a gap of two months, the reading was mildly higher than ICRA’s expectations (+0.4 per cent). “The sequential hardening in the YoY WPI inflation was largely led by the WPI-food index, which was flat compared to year ago levels following the 2.6 per cent contraction in November 2025,” Agrawal said.
“Looking ahead, ICRA expects the food inflation to harden further in January 2026 and continue on an upward trajectory thereafter owing to an unfavourable base. Besides, global commodity prices have continued to rise on a sequential basis in January led by sharp gains in precious metals, as well as some hardening in prices of some industrial metals, even though oil prices have cooled,” he added.
