NEW DELHI: India’s wholesale price inflation rose to 2.13% in February, driven largely by higher prices of basic metals and other manufactured food and non-food items, as well as textiles, according to data released by the commerce ministry on Monday.
Wholesale inflation stood at 2.45% in February 2025. For much of the past six months, however, price pressures had remained muted, either in deflation or below 1% inflation since July last year. Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was at 1.81% in January, after two consecutive months of deflation in October and November.
Inflation in primary articles, which include cereals, paddy, wheat, vegetables, milk, eggs, meat and fish, along with minerals and crude oil, rose to 3.27% in February, up from 2.92% a year earlier.
The category, which carries a 22.62% weight in the index, had seen inflation of just 0.21% in December 2025, which climbed to 2.21% in January 2026.
Inflation in manufactured products, the largest segment of the index with a 64.23% weight, stood at 2.93% in February, compared with 3% a year earlier and 2.86% in January 2026.
Meanwhile, fuel and power prices remained in deflation, at –3.78% in February, compared with –0.97% a year earlier and –4.01% in January. Softer global energy prices and moderate electricity tariffs kept prices subdued during the month, though pressures could build in March amid rising energy prices linked to the West Asia conflict.
India’s retail inflation firmed up to 3.21% in February, hit by the rise in prices of food and beverages, clothing and housing and utility services, according to data released last week.
While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) targets retail inflation measured by the consumer price index (CPI) for monetary policy, subdued wholesale inflation indicates that input costs for businesses remain contained, helping stabilise retail prices.
The RBI said last month that food supply prospects remain favourable, supported by healthy kharif output, adequate food grain buffer stocks, strong rabi sowing and sufficient reservoir levels. However, geopolitical tensions, volatile energy prices and adverse weather events pose upside risks to inflation, the central bank said on 6 February, when it kept the repo rate steady at 5.25%.
The government is working to revise the WPI base year from 2011-12 to 2022-23 to better reflect structural changes in the economy. A committee led by NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand is advising on the revision. A more accurate inflation measure would help improve the assessment of real GDP.
Separately, the government is exploring a shift from WPI, which tracks only goods, to a producer price index (PPI) that also captures services, now accounting for more than half of India’s economic output.
