WPI inflation rises to 1.81% in January, extends upward trend for third month

Wholesale price inflation rose to 1.81% in January, marking the third consecutive month of increase, driven by higher prices of food articles, non-food items and manufactured products, according to government data released on Monday. 

Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) stood at 0.83% in December 2025 and 2.51% in January last year. 

In a statement, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said the positive rate of inflation in January 2026 was primarily due to rising prices of manufactured basic metals, other manufacturing segments, non-food articles, food articles and textiles. 

Food articles inflation turned positive 

Food articles inflation turned positive at 1.55% in January compared with a deflation of 0.43% in December. Vegetable prices also recorded a sharp uptick, with inflation at 6.78% against a contraction of 3.50% in the previous month. 

Inflation in manufactured products increased to 2.86% in January from 1.82% in December, reflecting a firming trend in factory-gate prices. Non-food articles saw a significant spike, with inflation rising to 7.58% from 2.95% a month earlier. 

However, deflation persisted in the fuel and power segment at 4.01% in January, compared to 2.31% in December. 

Index for primary articles declined marginally 

On a month-on-month basis, the index for primary articles declined marginally by 0.15% to 193.9 in January from 194.2 in December. Prices of food articles and minerals fell by 1.79% and 0.47%, respectively, while non-food articles and crude petroleum and natural gas rose by 5.32% and 4.27%. 

In the fuel and power category, the index declined 1.62% to 145.9 in January. Electricity and mineral oil prices dropped by 2.91% and 1.68%, respectively, though coal prices edged up 0.73%. 

CPI inflation for January 2026 stood at 2.75%

India’s retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), for January 2026 stood at 2.75%, according to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Thursday.  

The Reserve Bank of India, which primarily tracks retail inflation for monetary policy decisions, has cut policy rates by 1.25 percentage points in the current fiscal year and earlier this month kept the benchmark repo rate unchanged at 5.25%.