In vegetables, deflation was 3.50% in December, compared to 20.23% in November. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Wholesale price inflation extended upward momentum for the second straight month, recording at 0.83% in December 2025, driven by an uptick in prices of food, non-food articles, and manufactured items on a month-on-month basis, government data showed on Wednesday (January 14, 2026).
Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation returned to positive in December, after witnessing a deflationary trend in the previous two months.
In November and October, the pace of price rise was negative at (-) 0.32% and (-) 1.21%, respectively.
In contrast, WPI inflation was 2.57% in December 2024.
“Positive rate of inflation in December 2025 is primarily due to an increase in prices of other manufacturing, minerals, manufacture of machinery and equipment, manufacture of food products, and textiles, etc.,” the Industry Ministry said in a statement.
According to WPI data, deflation in food articles was 0.43% in December, as against 4.16% in November.
In vegetables, deflation was 3.50% in December, compared to 20.23% in November.
In the case of manufactured products, WPI inflation inched up to 1.82%, as against 1.33% in November 2025.
The non-food articles category showed an inflation of 2.95% in December, against 2.27% in November.
Negative inflation or deflation continued in the fuel and power sectors, at 2.31% in December, against 2.27% a month ago.
Data released earlier this week showed the country’s retail inflation inched up to 1.33% in December, from 0.71% in November, driven by rising food prices.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced policy interest rates by 1.25 percentage points in the current fiscal year as inflation remained low.
Last month, RBI significantly lowered the inflation projection for the current fiscal to 2% from 2.6% estimated earlier, as the economy continues to witness rapid disinflation.
The RBI mainly tracks retail inflation for deciding on benchmark interest rates.
Last month, the RBI cut key policy interest rates by 25 bps to 5.25%, saying that the Indian economy is in a “rare Goldilocks period” marked by high growth and low inflation.
The RBI has raised its FY26 GDP growth projection to 7.3%, from an earlier estimate of 6.8%. India recorded an 8.2% growth in the September quarter, and 7.8% in the June quarter.
Published – January 14, 2026 01:11 pm IST
