Wholesale prices rose 3.39 per cent in December driven by higher mineral prices, according to official data. Inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), increased from 3.15 per cent in November 2016.
“The divergence between wholesale and retail inflation in the month of December 2016 has come primarily on account of a spike in the commodity prices,” said Sunil Kumar Sinha, Principal Economist, India Ratings & Research said.
“While minerals witnessed an eleven-fold increase in inflation in December as compared to November, both ‘Basic Metals Alloys and Metal Product’ and ‘Iron and Semis’ witnessed nearly two-fold increase in inflation for the same period,” he said.
Inflation in the minerals segment under the primary articles category accelerated to 12.86 per cent in December 2016 from 1.12 per cent in November. However, the foods articles component contracted 0.7 per cent from the level in the same month of the previous year. — Special Correspondent
