Widening gap between wholesale and retail food inflation? Blame lockdown

Since March 2020, WPI food inflation rate continued to fall but the CPI-food inflation rose, signaling a breakdown in supply chain from the mandis to the final household

The disruption in supply chain between the mandis to the end consumer during the Covid-19 lockdown has made food items dearer for the end consumers without translating into big gains for the growers.

The wholesale-price index (WPI)-based food inflation rate in the month of April 2020 was 2.55 per cent, which slipped further to 1.13 per cent in May 2020. While at individual item level their might have been some symmetry, the broad index reflected a divergence.

However, the consumer price index (CPI) for food items during the same period rose from 9.13 per cent to 9.28 per cent. This widened