WPI inflation surges to 2.59 pc in Dec

Wholesale prices based inflation surged to 2.59 per cent in December, as against 0.58 per cent in November due to increase in prices of food articles like onion and potato.

The annual inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI), was at 3.46 per cent during the same month a year ago (December 2018).

The rate of price rise for food articles rose to 13.12 per cent during December as against 11 per cent a month earlier, while for non-food articles it rose nearly four-fold to 7.72 per cent from 1.93 per cent in November, showed the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday.

Among food articles, vegetable prices surged by 69.69 per cent mainly on account of onion, which witnessed 455.83 per cent jump in prices, followed by potato at 44.97 per cent.

The consumer price index based retail inflation, as per data released on Monday, spiked to over a 5-year high of 7.35 per cent in December due to costlier food products.