Wholesale inflation rises for second month in a row in April at 1.26 pc

New Delhi, May 14 (PTI) The wholesale inflation rose for the second consecutive month in April to 1.26 per cent on account of rise in prices of food articles, especially vegetables, along with fuel and power.

The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation was 0.79 per cent in April last year. In March 2024, it was 0.53 per cent.

“Positive rate of inflation in April 2024 is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, electricity, crude petroleum and natural gas, manufacture of food products, other manufacturing etc,” Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a statement on Tuesday.

As per the data, inflation in food articles rose to 7.74 per cent in April as against 6.88 per cent in March.

Inflation in vegetables was 23.60 per cent in April, up from 19.52 per cent in the previous month.

In the fuel and power basket, inflation stood at 1.38 per cent in April, up from (-)0.77 per cent in March.

The rise in April WPI is in contrast to the retail inflation data for the month. The RBI mainly takes into account retail inflation while framing monetary policy.

Retail inflation eased to 11-month low of 4.83 per cent in April.

The RBI last month kept interest rate unchanged for seventh time in a row and said that it remains vigilant towards upside risks to food inflation.