4 min readJul 14, 2026 05:44 PM IST
Wholesale inflation in India almost hit double-digit territory in June, rising to 9.87%, as a sharp acceleration in food price increases more than cancelled out cooling fuel pressures, with economists warning that inflation is becoming “more generalised than before”.
Data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday showed inflation measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) in June unexpectedly rose from 9.68% in May to the highest level in the current series that goes back to April 2024. This is the second print under the revised WPI series, which has 2022-23 as the base year and incorporates new calculation methods, and a greater number of items, among other changes.
“…since November onwards…the inflation rate (has) drifted from a low negative deflation to this high level in June. Quite clearly the days of low inflation are over,” said Madan Sabnavis, Bank of Baroda’s Chief Economist.
The WPI inflation data comes a day after the statistics ministry data showed household inflation rose to 4.38% in June – the most in one-and-a-half years – on the back of a continued rise in food prices, as deficient rains and the impact of the retail fuel price hikes hit consumers’ pockets.
Tuesday’s data showed wholesale food inflation jumped to 6.14% in June from 4.49% in May, driven by huge month-on-month prices increases for the likes of drumstick (46%), capsicum (38%), tomato (33%), and onion (26%). Among meats, the price of beef and buffalo meat was up 21% in June compared to May, while eggs were 11% costlier.
The month-on-month increase in the price indices of goods is indicative of the momentum in prices. This is a better indicator of how prices are moving as opposed to the inflation rate, which measures prices compared to last year.
“Food prices have been on an increasing trend since November and reached a 17-month high at 5.5% in June 2026, due to the base and El Nino effect,” said Megha Arora, Director at India Ratings & Research, referring to food articles inflation rising to 5.49% last month.
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Meanwhile, ‘fuel and power’ inflation eased to 27.41% from 30.33% in May. Aastha Gudwani and Amruta Ghare of Barclays estimate that this decline “shaved off 41 bps from headline (inflation), partly offsetting the impact of the increase in food inflation”.
According to Rahul Agrawal, Principal Economist at ICRA, WPI inflation should edge lower to 9% in July, data for which will be released on August 14.
“Thereafter, trends in global commodity prices and the progress of the Southwest Monsoon would influence the WPI inflation trajectory in the remaining part of the fiscal, with the latter particularly impacting food inflation, which would also see some upward pressure on account of a low base over the next few months,” Agrawal added.
However, Arora of India Ratings expects July wholesale inflation to rise to 10%, with resurgent crude oil prices due to fresh escalation in West Asia a contributing factor in addition to monsoon developments.
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Producer prices
In addition to the WPI data, the commerce ministry on Tuesday also released the Producer Price Index (PPI) data. As per this new index, which was first released last month, output PPI inflation rose to 9.57% in June from 9.38% in May.
The June output PPI inflation figure is also the highest so far, with data starting from April 2024.
On a month-on-month basis, the output PPI was up 0.3% in June from May, although the index for manufacturing was down 0.3%. Meanwhile, the trial input PPI for manufacturing was up a sharp 2.1% month-on-month, indicating profit margins are under pressure.
