Wholesale price index soars sharply to 1.62% for June

Rising food prices led to the significant increase; May's WPI was seen at 0.79%

Ballooning prices of food articles pushed up India's annual wholesale price index sharply to 1.62% for June from 0.79% for the month before. This kept the inflation level in the positive domain for the third month after 17 months in the negative.

The annual inflation for potatoes, as per data on official wholesale price index (WPI) released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, was as much as 64.48%, while for pulses it was 26.61%. Vegetable prices were 16.91% higher.

Significantly, the final wholesale price index for the month of April was also revised to suggest a higher annual inflation rate of 0.79% against 0.34% as reported earlier.

Wholesale food prices last month rose 8.18% year-on-year, compared with a provisional 7.88% gain in May.