Wholesale Price Inflation Eases to 13.93% in July Compared to 15.18% in June

The wholesale price-based inflation (WPI) eased to 13.93 percent in July on easing prices of food articles and manufactured products.

WPI was 15.18 percent in June and at a record high of 15.88 percent in May. It was 11.57 percent in July last year.

The WPI inflation continued its declining trend for the second month in July but remained in double-digits for the 16th consecutive month beginning April last year. Inflation in food articles in July eased to 10.77 percent from 14.39 percent in June.

The rate of price rise in vegetables declined substantially to 18.25 percent in July against 56.75 percent in the previous month.

In the fuel and power basket, inflation was 43.75 percent in July compared to 40.38 percent in the last month. Inflation in manufactured products and oil seeds was 8.16 percent and (-)4.06 per cent, respectively.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mainly looks at retail inflation to frame monetary policy.

Retail inflation remained above the Reserve Bank's comfort level for the seventh month in a row and was at 6.71 percent in July. To tame stubbornly high inflation, the RBI has hiked the key interest rate three times this year to 5.40 percent.

The central bank had projected retail inflation to average 6.7 percent in 2022-23.