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Representational image of a vegetable market in Coimbatore / The Hindu.
| Photo Credit: Siva Saravanan S.
Wholesale inflation increased to 2.38% as cost of manufactured products increased in February 2025, from 2.31% in the previous month, according to data from Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Inflation of manufactured products increased to a two-year high of 2.86% in the reporting month. “Excluding food, core manufactured WPI inflation rose to 1.3% y-o-y from 1.0% in January. We think core WPI inflation may rise gradually over the coming months, reflecting the rise in international metal prices in February” according to Aastha Gudwani, India Chief Economist at Barclays research.
Primary articles continued to disinflate for six consecutive months coming in at 2.81% in February 2025. Food price inflation was at a four month low of 3.38% in February 2025. “. Expectedly, the correction is now tapering,” Ms. Gudwani wrote in the research note. The non-food primary inflation rose to 4.84% in the reporting month as against 2.85% in the previous month. The increase was however on account of a lower base, Ms. Gudwani wrote.
Fuel and power sector experienced a deflation of 0.71%, slowing from a fall in prices by 2.78% in January 2025. Price change in the sector has been in the negative territory for seven months.
“Looking ahead, while healthy crop output and an elevated base is expected to lead to further cooling in the WPI-food inflation in the near term, higher-than-normal temperatures pose an upside risk to the food inflation trajectory. Overall, ICRA expects the WPI inflation to average at ~2.5-3.0% in FY2026,” said Rahul Agrawal, Senior Economist, ICRA Limited.
Published – March 17, 2025 01:10 pm IST
