New Delhi: Wholesale inflation data for April was released on May 14. Inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) reached its highest level in 13 months in April. Wholesale inflation increased to 1.26 percent in April. WPI based inflation was 0.79 percent in April 2023 and 0.53 percent in March 2024. Which has crossed one percent and reached 1.26 percent.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that ‘prices of food items, electricity, crude petroleum and natural gas, manufacturing of food products, other manufacturing etc. are going to increase due to increase in inflation in April 2024. In fact, compared to March 2024, the prices of petroleum and natural gas increased by 3.56 percent in April 2024 and the prices of food products increased by 2.67 percent.
However, during the same period, prices of non-food products declined by 1.19 percent and prices of minerals declined by 1.55 percent. The WPI food index (which has an overall weight of 24.38 per cent in the wholesale price rise rate) has seen an increase. Food index stood at 5.52 percent in April, which was 4.65 percent in March. The inflation rate of manufactured products has increased by 0.50 percent and has reached 140.8 in April, which was earlier 140.1 in March. Its share in wholesale inflation rate is about 64.23 percent.
Who will be affected by wholesale inflation?
Due to high prices, the cost of manufacturing products increases and this impacts the consumers. The biggest impact of price rise falls on products like metal, chemical, plastic and rubber, because manufacturing takes place through them and due to increase in cost, retail prices also increase, due to which the burden of retail price rise falls on the common man.
