India's Wholesale Inflation Falls To 14-Month Low In May

India's wholesale price inflation eased to the lowest in over a year at 0.39% in May, compared to 0.85% in April, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed on Monday.

Commodities across the board saw a fall in wholesale prices. While wholesale inflation in primary articles—especially food—led the decline, prices of manufactured products too rose at a slower pace, along with a fall in fuel and power.

While the cooling was broad-based, with the food, the WPI food inflation print slumped to 1.7% in May 2025, the lowest in 19 months, amid the subdued sequential uptick in prices, said Rahul Agrawal, senior economist, ICRA.

As many as 20 of the 22 food items for which data is released by the Department of Consumer Affairs, reported an easing in their year-on-year inflation rate in June 2025 (until June 15), compared to May 2025, partly aided by a favourable base. Given these trends, ICRA expects the WPI-food inflation to soften further in June 2025 from 1.7% in May 2025.

The temporal and spatial distribution of the monsoon remains key for crop outlook, and consequently, food inflation, Agarwal said.

Higher crude oil prices, along with some depreciation in the INR relative to the USD, would also impart upward pressure on the WPI inflation print for June 2025, which is nevertheless likely to remain benign at around 0.6-0.8% in June 2025, he added.

WPI Key Highlights

• Inflation in manufactured products—the largest component of the index—rose by 2.04% versus 2.62%.

• Primary articles inflation fell by 2.02% versus a fall of 1.44%.

• Inflation in food articles—a sub-component of primary articles— fell 1.56% vs 0.86%.

• Fuel and power inflation at -2.27% versus -2.18%.

• Vegetables: -21.62% versus 18.26% in April.