India’s wholesale inflation turns positive after two months in negative; August WPI at 0.52%
(source : ANI) ( Photo Credit : ani)
India’s wholesale inflation made a positive shift in August, climbing to 0.52 per cent based on the All India Wholesale Price Index (WPI), according to official data released on Monday. This marks a turnaround after two straight months of negative figures, mirroring a slight uptick in retail inflation.
Economists often see a modest wholesale inflation rate like this as a good sign. It encourages businesses to ramp up production and keep the economy buzzing. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry pointed to rising prices in food products, manufactured goods, non-food items, non-metallic minerals, and transport equipment as the main drivers behind this August wholesale inflation jump.
The government puts out these WPI numbers every month—usually on the 14th, or the next working day if it’s a holiday—two weeks after the month’s end. They pull data from institutions and factories across the country to build the index.
Shifting to retail inflation, India’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) ticked up slightly to 2.07 per cent year-on-year in August 2025. That’s a 46 basis point rise from July’s 1.55 per cent, which was the lowest since June 2017. Food inflation actually dipped into negative territory at -0.69 per cent, with rural areas at -0.70 per cent and urban at -0.58 per cent compared to August 2024.
But not all categories stayed cool—vegetables, meat, fish, oils, fats, and eggs saw price hikes that pushed overall inflation higher this month. States like Kerala, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu topped the list for year-on-year inflation rates.
The good news? This retail inflation stays comfortably within the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) target range of 2-6 per cent. Inflation has been a headache for many countries, but India has kept it in check. The RBI stuck to its repo rate of 6.5 per cent for 11 meetings in a row before finally cutting it in February 2025—the first drop in nearly five years.
Experts and business leaders aren’t too worried about this modest rise in inflation. They call it temporary and say recent GST reforms should help maintain price stability. After the latest RBI Monetary Policy Committee meeting, the inflation forecast for 2025-26 got a downward tweak to 3.7 per cent from the previous 4 per cent estimate. Overall, India’s inflation trends look steady, giving the economy some breathing room.
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