The wholesale price index (WPI) inflation rose sharply to 4.17 per cent in February compared with 2.03 per cent in the month of January "The rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at (4.17 per cent) (provisional) for the month of February, 2021 (over February, 2020) as compared to 2.26 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year," the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a statement.
The index of primary articles increased by 1.04 per cent to 145.4 in February, 2021 from 143.9 for the month of January, 2021, while the prices of crude petroleum and natural gas increased by 6.50 per cent and food articles rose 0.51 per cent, the Ministry of Commerce said.
The index for primary articles with a weightage of 22.62 per cent increased by 1.04 per cent to 145.4 in February, according to an official statement released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Prices of minerals increased by 9.4 per cent and crude petroleum and natural gas, by 6.5 per cent.
The WPI food index consisting of food articles from the primary articles group and food products from manufactured products group increased from 151.8 in January to 153 in February. The rate of inflation based on WPI food index increased from negative 0.26 per cent to 3.31 per cent.
However, prices of non-food articles declined by 0.51 per cent.
A total of 17 groups, including motor vehicles, machinery and equipment; computer, electronic and optical products; chemicals and chemical products; and paper and paper products witnessed an increase in prices.
Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or retail inflation for the month of February 2021 surged to 5.03 per cent, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) announced post market hours on March 12. And the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) contracted by 1.6 per cent in January, after growing in the preceding two months. The index rose by 0.4 per cent in November and by 1 per cent in December 2020.
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