WPI inflation eases to 2.3% in January

India's wholesale inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), eased to 2.3% in January, down from 2.4% in December 2024, according to data released by the Union ministry of commerce and industry on Friday.

- Auhona Mukherjee

NEW DELHI:

Sequentially, or on a month-on-month basis, the WPI print contracted by 0.5%, making it the third consecutive month of contraction. January's WPI print positively surprised analysts. A Bloomberg poll of economists had projected this number at 2.5%.

A disaggregated analysis of WPI data shows that a slowing of food inflation was the primary reason for a fall in the WPI print. The prices of primary food articles and the overall food group, which have a weightage of 15.3% and 24.4% respectively in the WPI basket, grew at 5.9% and 7.5% in January, much lower than the 8.5% and 8.9% in December.