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14-09-2026
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI: India’s wholesale prices rose 9.92% year-on-year in August, government data showed on Monday, as oil and food prices increased at a faster pace.
The print was higher than the 9.78% rise a month ago and economists’ average projection of 9.89% in a poll.
Wholesale food prices rose 7.05% year-on-year in August after rising 6.65% in July.
Prices of manufactured products rose 8.37% year-on-year in August after an 8.29% year-on-year rise a month ago.
Fuel and power prices increased 22.93% year-on-year in August, as against a rise of 20.05% a month ago.
Petroleum and natural gas prices rose 34.41% year-on-year in August after a 26.99% rise in July.
Producer prices in August rose 9.8% year-on-year against a 9.57% rise in the previous month, according to calculation.
Meanwhile, India’s annual retail inflation accelerated further in August as price pressures spread beyond food and transport, strengthening the case for a rate hike by the central bank next month.
The August print of 4.82% was marginally higher than a 4.80% inflation that the economists were expecting in a Reuters poll and 4.45% in the previous month. It was also the highest under the new series which began in January.
Asia’s third-largest economy continues to be an outlier among regional peers for not tightening monetary policy, while peers as Indonesia and the Philippines have raised rates in response to higher energy prices and currency volatility.
The central bank left its benchmark policy rate unchanged at 5.25% last month, but minutes of its last monetary policy meeting showed that some Reserve Bank of India officials, including Governor Sanjay Malhotra, favored a rate hike if inflation spread across segments.
“Our base case is that a rate hike could materialize in the December 2026 meeting, particularly if there is evidence of a generalization in inflationary pressures and crude oil prices sustain at elevated levels,” said Aditi Nayar, chief economist at rating agency ICRA.
