New Delhi: Another worrying news is on the economy front. There has been a huge increase in the wholesale inflation (WPI) in February. Wholesale inflation rose to 4.17 percent in February. This is a record level for the past 27 months. Let us know that the wholesale inflation rate was 2.03 percent in January. Whereas in the same period a year ago, the rate was 2.26 per cent. Apart from food and drink, the wholesale inflation of fuel and power has increased drastically. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has released the data on wholesale inflation.
Explain that the Reserve Bank of India did not make any change in the policy interest rates in the monetary policy meeting ended on 5 February. In the fourth consecutive meeting, the RBI retained the interest rates. RBI also said that inflation rate will be better in the near future.
The WPI Food Index rose to 3.31 per cent in February, compared to (-) 0.26 per cent in January 2021. Similarly, the wholesale inflation rate of vegetables has increased from -20.82 per cent to -2.90 per cent. The wholesale inflation rate of potato has been at -29.78 per cent as against -22.04 per cent in January. While the wholesale inflation rate of onion has increased to 31.28 percent from -32.55 percent in January.
On a month-by-month basis, there has been a huge increase in fuel and power WPI. It has increased to 0.58 per cent in February, while it was at -4.78 per cent in January. In February, the inflation rate of mineral was 9.40 percent, crude petroleum and nucheral gas 6.50 percent, food articles 0.51 percent. The fuel and power group index rose 4.51 percent to 104.2. It was 99.7 (provisional) in January.
Primary articles WPI stood at 1.82 per cent in February, as against -2.24 per cent in January. There has also been an increase in the wholesale inflation of manufactured products in February. In February, it has been at 5.81 per cent while in January it was at 5.13 per cent. Inflation rate of non-food articles stood at (-) 0.51 per cent in February, which is lower than in January.
