WPI Inflation halts 4-months rising trend, eases to 13.56% in December 2021

14 Jan 2022 , 04:19 PM

India’s wholesale price index (WPI) inflation comes at 13.56% (Provisional) for December 2021 (over December 2020) as compared to 1.95% in December 2020. The WPI eased from a four-month rising trend.

The high rate of inflation in December 2021 is primarily due to the rise in prices of mineral oils, basic metals, crude petroleum & natural gas, chemicals and chemical products, food products, textile and paper and paper products etc as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

The month over month change in WPI for December 2021 stood at (-) 0.35 % as compared to November 2021.

Month over Month Change in Major Groups of WPI:

Primary Articles (Weight 22.62%):

The index for this major group declined by (-) 0.47% to 167.8 (provisional) in December 2021 from 168.6 (provisional) for November 2021. Prices of Non-food Articles (4.59%) increased in December 2021 as compared to November 2021. Prices of Minerals (-6.10%), Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas (-3.19%) and Food Articles (-1.07%) declined in December 2021 as compared to November 2021.

Fuel & Power (Weight 13.15%):

The index for this major group declined by (-) 2.66% to 128.2 (provisional) in December 2021 from 131.7 (provisional) for November 2021. Prices of Coal (0.38%) increased in December 2021 as compared to November 2021. Prices of Mineral Oils (-4.28%) declined in December 2021 as compared to November 2021. Prices of electricity remain unchanged.

Manufactured Products (Weight 64.23%):

The index for this major group increased by 0.22 % to 136.4 (provisional) in December 2021 from 136.1 (provisional) in November 2021. Out of the 22 NIC two-digit groups for manufactured products, 16 groups have witnessed an increase in prices while 5 groups have witnessed a decrease in prices in December 2021 as compared to November 2021.

The increase in prices is mainly contributed by the manufacture of textiles; chemicals and chemical products; fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment; electrical equipment and motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers. Some of the groups that have witnessed a decrease in prices are the manufacture of basic metals; food products; computer, electronic and optical products; wearing apparel and beverages. While the prices of manufacture of rubber and plastics products remain unchanged in December 2021 as compared to November 2021.

WPI food index (Weight 24.38%):

The Food Index consisting of ‘Food Articles’ from the Primary Articles group and ‘Food Product’ from the Manufactured Products group has decreased from 170.4 in November 2021 to 169.0 in December 2021. The rate of inflation based on the WPI Food Index increased from 6.70% in November 2021 to 9.24% in December 2021.

For October 2021 the final Wholesale Price Index and inflation rate for ‘All Commodities’ (Base: 2011-12=100) stood at 140.7 and 13.83% respectively.