Food and manufacturing costs push India’s wholesale inflation to 2.13% in February

Wholesale price inflation in India rose to 2.13 per cent in February, marking the fourth consecutive monthly increase, according to government data released on Monday.

The rise in inflation was driven by higher prices of food articles, non-food articles and manufactured products. Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation stood at 1.81 per cent in January and 2.45 per cent in February last year.

Economists polled by Reuters had projected wholesale prices to rise 2 per cent in February.

In a statement, the industry ministry said, “Positive rate of inflation in February 2026 is primarily due to an increase in prices of other manufacturing, manufacture of basic metals, non-food articles, food articles and textiles, etc.”

Food prices contributed to the increase in wholesale inflation. Wholesale food prices rose 1.85 per cent year-on-year in February, compared with a 1.41 per cent increase in January. Inflation in food articles had stood at 1.55 per cent in January after recording a deflation of 0.43 per cent in December.

Vegetable prices also increased on a yearly basis, though the pace of increase slowed. Vegetable prices rose 4.73 per cent year-on-year in February after a 6.78 per cent year-on-year rise in January. Earlier, vegetables had recorded a deflation of 3.50 per cent in December.

Inflation in non-food articles also rose sharply. The category recorded inflation of 7.58 per cent in January compared with 2.95 per cent in December.

Manufactured products registered a further rise in inflation. Prices of manufactured products increased 2.92 per cent year-on-year in February, compared with a 2.86 per cent increase in January. Earlier, WPI inflation in manufactured products was 1.82 per cent in December.

Fuel and power continued to record negative inflation. Prices in the category declined 3.78 per cent year-on-year in February after a 4 per cent drop in January. The sector had recorded deflation of 4.01 per cent in January compared with 2.31 per cent in December.

Separate data released last week showed that the country’s retail inflation rose to 2.75 per cent in January.

The Reserve Bank of India mainly tracks retail inflation while deciding benchmark interest rates. Earlier this month, the RBI retained key policy interest rates at 5.25 per cent.

The central bank has reduced policy interest rates by 1.25 percentage points in the current fiscal year as inflation remained low.