WPI rises to 7-month high at 2.59% in December from 0.58% in November on hike in onion, potato prices

Wholesale price-based inflation rose to 2.59 percent in December, as against 0.58 percent in November—a 7-month high 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 percent during the same month a year ago (December 2018). The rate of price rise for food articles rose to 13.12 percent during December as against 11 percent a month earlier, while for non-food articles it rose nearly four-fold to 7.72 percent from 1.93 percent in November, showed the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday. Among food articles, vegetable prices surged by 69.69 percent mainly on account of onion, which witnessed 455.83 percent jump in prices, followed by potato at 44.97 percent.The consumer price index-based retail inflation, as per data released on Monday, spiked to over a 5-year high of 7.35 percent in December due to costlier food products.