Overview
- The Wholesale Price Index rose 0.71% month on month in December, with manufactured products inflation accelerating to 1.82% year on year, the heaviest‑weighted WPI category at 64.23%.
- Food‑article deflation narrowed to 0.43% from 4.16% in November, vegetable prices fell 3.5% versus a 20.23% drop previously, and fuel and power stayed in deflation at 2.31%.
- The 0.83% reading topped market expectations near 0.30%, and economists said wholesale deflation likely bottomed as producers regain some pricing power.
- For 2025 as a whole, wholesale inflation averaged about 0.6%, down from 1.7% in 2024, while retail CPI picked up to 1.33% in December from 0.71% in November.
- The data come after cumulative RBI rate cuts of roughly 1.25 percentage points this fiscal year, with analysts flagging base effects, global commodity moves and currency depreciation as upside risks to early‑2026 inflation.