WPI inflation rises to 2.13% in February on higher food, non-food article prices
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India’s wholesale price inflation rose to 2.13% in February, marking the fourth consecutive monthly increase, mainly driven by higher prices of food and non-food articles, according to government data released on Monday.
Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index stood at 1.81% in January and 2.45% in February last year.
In a statement, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday said the positive inflation rate in February was largely due to higher prices in several categories, including other manufacturing, basic metals, non-food articles, food articles, and textiles.
Data showed that inflation in food articles increased to 2.19% in February from 1.55% in the previous month.
Within the food basket, vegetable inflation eased to 4.73% in February compared with 6.78% in January. However, prices of pulses, potato, and egg, meat, and fish recorded an uptick during the month.
Inflation in manufactured products also edged up slightly to 2.92% in February from 2.86% in January.
The WPI for February has been compiled at a weighted response rate of 83.9% while the final figure for December 2025 is based on the weighted response rate of 93.1%.
WPI for the March will be released on April 14.
Meanwhile, inflation in non-food articles rose sharply to 8.80% in February from 7.58% in the previous month.
The fuel and power basket continued to remain in deflation, with prices contracting 3.78% in February compared with a decline of 4.01% in January.
The Reserve Bank of India has reduced its policy interest rate by a cumulative 1.25 percentage points in the current financial year as inflationary pressures remained relatively contained. The central bank primarily tracks retail inflation while deciding on benchmark interest rates.
Meanwhile, retail inflation also edged higher in February. According to the latest Ecowrap report by State Bank of India Research, headline inflation based on the Consumer Price Index rose to 3.21% in February from 2.75% in January.
The report noted that the increase marked the second consecutive monthly rise under the revised 2024 base year series and was largely driven by food inflation, which climbed 129 basis points to 3.55% during the month.