The provisional data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry on Wednesday showed that the increase in prices of food articles, food product manufacturing, mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, other manufacturing, etc. was the main cause of India’s wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation for July, which eased to 2.04% on an annual basis. Due to rising food prices, WPI inflation reached a 16-month high of 3.36 percent in June.
The Ministry of Commerce & Industry stated in a statement that the main causes of the positive rate of inflation in July 2024 were increases in the cost of food items, food product production, mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, other manufacturing, etc.
When comparing July 2024 to June 2024, the month-over-month change in the WPI index was 0.84 percent. Based on the WPI Food Index, the statistics indicated that the rate of inflation rose from 8.68 percent in June 2024 to 3.55% percent in July 2024.
According to the statement, the rate of inflation for food items was 3.45% in July compared to 10.87 in June. From 8.80% in June to 3.08 percent now, the primary articles’ inflation rate increased. In July, the gasoline and power inflation rate was 1.72 percent, compared to 1.03 percent in June. Furthermore, the inflation rate for manufactured goods was 1.58% in July.
The outlook for WPI inflation shortly is still favorable. According to data from the Department of Consumer Affairs, prices of most food goods have decreased sequentially in August 2024 so far, with the monsoon picking up and the kharif planting progressing healthily. He continued, “ICRA expects WPI inflation to remain unchanged at roughly 2.0 percent in August 2024. This is likely to aid in containing the base effect-led uptick in the primary food articles inflation print in the ongoing month.”
