India: Wholesale inflation rises to 2.1% in February

The positive rate of wholesale inflation in February is primarily due to an increase in prices of other manufacturing, the manufacture of basic metals, non-food articles, food articles and textiles, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said Monday.

The month-on-month change in wholesale inflation for February 2026 stood at 0.25 per cent as compared to January 2026.

The rate of inflation based on the WPI Food Index increased to 1.85 per cent in February 2026.

DPIIT releases the index number of wholesale prices in India monthly on the 14th of every month (or next working day, if the 14th falls on a holiday) with a time lag of two weeks of the reference month, and the index number is compiled with data received from institutional sources and selected manufacturing units across the country.

India's Consumer Price Index, or retail inflation, in February, was recorded at 3.21 per cent, official data showed last week.

Corresponding inflation rates for rural and urban areas are 3.37 per cent and 3.02 per cent, respectively, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation had said in a statement.

Overall, the headline inflation is an increase of 47 basis points on a year-on-year basis in February 2026. On a month-on-month basis, there has been a decrease of more than 10 per cent observed in the index of tomato, Peas and cauliflower in February 2026 with respect to January 2026.

The inflation rate based on the All India Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) for the month of February 2026 over February, 2025 is 3.47 per cent (provisional). Corresponding inflation rates for rural and urban are 3.46 per cent and 3.48 per cent, respectively.

The top five states (having more than 50 lakh people as per the 2011 Census) with the highest inflation in February 2026 are Telangana, Rajasthan, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal, data showed. (ANI)