WPI inflation rises to 8-year high in March

A labourer takes a break from unloading sacks of onions, in Allahabad. File pic/AFP

The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation shot up to over 8-year high of 7.39 per cent in March on rising crude oil and metal prices. Also, the low base of March last year, when the data was computed with a low response rate due to the nationwide lockdown, contributed to the spike in inflation in March 2021.

Such a high level of WPI was last recorded in October 2012, when inflation was 7.4 per cent. Inflation in food articles in March was 3.24 per cent as prices of pulses, fruits and paddy hardened.

In vegetables, the rate of price rise softened to (-) 5.19 per cent, against (-) 2.90 per cent in the previous month.
Inflation in the fuel and power basket was 10.25 per cent in March, against 0.58 per cent in February on higher fuel prices. In manufactured products, inflation was 7.34 per cent.