(Reuters) - India's wholesale prices unexpectedly rose for the first time in 18 months, posting an annual gain of 0.34 percent, driven up by higher costs for food and manufactured items, government data showed on Monday.
The data compared with a 0.20 percent annual decline forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. In March, prices fell a provisional 0.85 percent.
Wholesale food prices last month rose 4.23 percent year-on-year, compared with a provisional 3.73 percent gain in March. Prices of manufactured goods increased 0.71 percent year on year in April.
Fuel prices dropped 4.83 percent from a year earlier in April, slower than a provisional 8.30 percent fall a month ago.
(Compiled by Rajesh Kumar Singh in NEW DELHI; Editing by Malini Menon)