Wholesale Price Inflation hits 9.68% in May; Ministry introduces revised base year series
New Delhi, June 15
India's wholesale price inflation rose sharply to 9.68 per cent on a year-on-year basis in May 2026, driven primarily by rising energy and manufacturing costs. According to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the annual rate of inflation stood at 8.26 per cent in April 2026. The wholesale price index for all commodities reached 109.9 in May, rising from 108.8 in the preceding month.
The quickening pace of price gains was visible across all major commodity segments. Year-on-year inflation for fuel and power surged to 30.33 per cent in May from 24.89 per cent in April, while manufactured products inflation climbed to 7.48 per cent from 6.68 per cent. Primary articles registered an inflation rate of 4.99 per cent during the month, up from 3.78 per cent in April. The wholesale food index, which tracks both raw food articles and processed food products, rose 4.49 per cent in May compared to 3.11 per cent in April.
The Office of Economic Adviser under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is releasing a revised series of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) with a new base year of 2022-23 to replace the older 2011-12 series.
At the same time, the ministry is introducing new price trackers, including the Output Producer Price Index, a trial Input Producer Price Index for the manufacturing sector, and a Service Producer Price Index spanning seven major service sectors.
"Considering the wide usage of WPI in price escalation clauses, this index will be released for five years from the date of its release, along with PPI, and will be discontinued thereafter," the Ministry of Commerce & Industry stated.
The Ministry noted that this timeline provides "sufficient time to users to switch from WPI to PPI." Under the modernized framework, the item basket for the WPI series expands from 697 to 957 items.
Provisional indices of WPI, OPPI, and trial IPPI for a reference month will be released on the 14th of the following month.
The ministry added that the transition from WPI to PPI aligns domestic indicators with global best practices and standard recommendations of the International Monetary Fund.
"Availability of both the Output PPI and Input PPI gives a better understanding of the price movements of output produced vis-a-vis inputs being used in an industry," the document stated.
The government report added that the dual indices also explain "how inflation experienced by producers on inputs are passed on to the output being produced."
The computation methodology updates to a short-term formulation method, and the weights are now derived using the Gross Value of Output instead of Net Traded Value.
Furthermore, crude petroleum and natural gas have been relocated from primary articles to the fuel and power group to ensure a coherent structure for tracking energy prices.
The Ministry of Commerce & Industry cautioned users regarding historical comparisons, noting that the item basket underwent significant changes at lower levels of disaggregation due to the inclusion of new items and the removal of obsolete ones.
To facilitate data continuity, the ministry fixed the tracking linking factor for all commodities at 1.53, while primary articles stand at 1.71, fuel and power at 1.65, and manufactured products at 1.44.
— ANI
Reader Comments
As a small manufacturer, I can tell you input costs have gone through the roof. Raw material prices, transport, electricity - everything is up. The fuel and power segment at 30% inflation is killing our margins. We're forced to pass costs to customers, but nobody wants to pay more. Government needs to control crude oil prices first.
The transition from WPI to PPI makes sense because globally that's what everyone uses. But why wait 5 years? And why only provisional indices on 14th of month? We need faster and more real-time data. Also, that linking factor of 1.53 for all commodities seems arbitrary - how will historical comparisons work with so many item changes? 🧐
Interesting that they're moving crude and natural gas to fuel group - finally making logical sense. But I worry about the weight changes from Net Traded Value to Gross Value of Output. This could significantly alter inflation readings for manufacturing. A much-needed modernisation, but the devil is in the details.
All this number juggling won't help the aam aadmi. My salary hasn't increased by even 5% this year but my household expenses are up 15% easily. The new PPI might make economists happy, but until inflation comes down to 4-5%, it's just math for the poor. Government should focus on supply chains and hoarding.
Good to see India moving to global standards. The Input PPI and Output PPI together will give a clearer picture of pricing pressure. But I'm concerned about data reliability - how many
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