Wholesale price inflation eases to 2.31% in January 2025

India's wholesale price inflation slightly eased to 2.31% in January, driven by food and manufactured costs, with fuel prices in deflation.

India’s wholesale price inflation eased fractionally from 2.37% in December to 2.31% in January, with a deceleration in food inflation being almost offset by an uptick in manufactured costs’ price rise pace, government data released on Friday (February 14, 2025) showed.

While fuel and power inflation remained in deflationary territory, prices were 2.8% lower than a year ago, compared to a 3.8% drop recorded in December.

The Wholesale Food Index was up 7.5% in January, cooling a bit from the 8.9% rise in food prices recorded through November and December.

Manufactured products inflation rose from 2.14% in December to 2.51% in January.

On a month-on-month basis, wholesale markets’ prices were down 0.45% from December levels, led by a 2.3% decline in food prices. However, fuel and power costs were up 0.5% and manufactured products inched higher by 0.14%.

The Commerce and Industry Ministry attributed the positive rate of inflation in January, primarily to an increase in prices of manufactured food products, food articles, other manufacturing, non-food articles and manufacture of textiles, etc.

Among food articles, vegetables were 8.35% pricier in January, with potato (74.3%), onion (28.3%) and fruits (15.1%) still reporting double-digit spikes. Wheat prices were up 9.75%, while paddy and cereal prices rose 6.2% and 7.3%, respectively.