Wholesale price inflation surged to new high of 15.9% in May

Inflation in India’s wholesale prices hit a fresh record high of 15.88% in May, escalating from 15.08% in April, as per official data released on Tuesday. This is the 14th month in a row that wholesale price inflation in India has stayed above the 10% mark. May 2021 had recorded an inflation rate of 13.11%

Fuel and power inflation accelerated further to 40.62% in May from 31.8% in March and 38.7% in April. The Wholesale Food Price Inflation, which had eased marginally in April to 8.9% from 9.3% in March, resurged to hit 10.9% in May.

Retail inflation had eased slightly to 7.04% in



May from 7.8% in April as per data released on Monday. But the further uptick in wholesale price inflation, in contrast to the consumer price trends, could warrant greater circumspection from the monetary policy perspective, as producers will eventually pass on higher costs to consumers.

Inflation in primary articles also gained momentum, rising from 15.45% in April to 19.71% in May. The only category of items to see a slight dip in inflation was manufactured products, where the wholesale price rise pace was 10.11% in May compared to 10.85% in April.