WPI inflation declines in December

WPI food inflation, manufacturing inflation and the broader primary articles inflation witnessed a decline while the fuel and power inflation escalated in December. 

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The Wholesale price inflation declined to a near two year low in December 2022, on account of moderating inflation in food, manufacturing and the broader primary articles. The data released by the Ministry of Commerce & industry showed that in December month, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) stood at 4.95%, making a 22-month low. The WPI inflation, earlier had struck an over 30-year high of 16.63% in May 2022, but thereafter has been receding each month. 

Aditi Nayar, ICRA- Chief Economist expected, “WPI inflation to print between 4.5% and 4.9% in January, before easing to sub-2% by March, unless commodity prices post a strong rebound”.

The ‘broader primary articles’ inflation decelerated to a 23-month low of 2.4% in December. The manufacturing inflation dropped to a 25-month low of 3.4%. The WPI food inflation was recorded at 0.65% in December, coming down from 2.17% in the previous month. 

While the broader WPI food inflation has been moderating, the cereals entered the fifth month of double-digit inflation and registered a 113-month high in December. Milk inflation climbed up to a 92-month high of 7% in December.  The rise in milk inflation accelerated the dairy products inflation to a 100-month high of 14.4%. 

The fuel and power inflation stood at 18.1% in December, going up from a 20-month low of 17.4% in November.