India’s wholesale inflation accelerated at a faster pace in May due to rising prices for a wide range of products.
The wholesale price index rose 15.88% year-on-year in May after a 15.08% rise in April, preliminary government data showed on Tuesday. The WPI rose to 154.0 in May from 151.9 in April.
High inflation in May was mainly due to rising prices for mineral oils, crude oil, natural gas, base metals, non-food items, chemicals, food and other products compared to same month as the previous year, according to the government. dit.
WPI data comes after preliminary government data on Monday showed that India’s consumer price index rose 7.0% year-on-year in May after a 7.8% rise in April. Economists expected consumer prices to rise by 7.3%, according to a consensus provided by FactSet.
The Reserve Bank of India on June 8 raised its policy repo rate by 50 basis points to 4.9% to contain consumer inflation, which is above the central bank’s target range of 2% at 6%. The RBI expects consumer inflation to average 6.7% in the fiscal year that began in April, above the 5.7% forecast earlier.
Write to Ronnie Harui at ronnie.harui@wsj.com