NEW DELHI: Inflation measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) fell to a 14-month low of 0.39 per cent for the month of May 2025 from 0.85 per cent in April, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed on Monday. This is the third consecutive month of decline in WPI inflation.
This was primarily due to increase in prices of manufacture of food products, electricity, other manufacturing, chemicals and chemical products, manufacture of other transport equipment and non-food articles, etc.
The month over month change in WPI for the month of May 2025 stood at (-) 0.06 per cent as compared to April 2025.
The month-over-month data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed that the index for primary articles decreased by 0.05 per cent to 184.3 (provisional) in May from 184.4 for the month of April. The price of minerals (-7.16 per cent) and non-food articles (-0.63 per cent) decreased in May as compared to April. The price of food articles (0.56 per cent) increased in May as compared to April. The index for Fuel & Power declined by 0.95 per cent to 146.7 (provisional) in May from 148.1 for the month of April. The manufactured products index remained unchanged at 144.9 (provisional) in May.
Furthermore, per the release by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, inflation for food articles came in at -1.56 per cent in May as compared to -0.86 per cent in April. The inflation rate for primary articles went down to -2.02 per cent from -1.44 per cent in the previous month. The fuel and power inflation was at -2.27 per cent in May as compared to -2.18 per cent in April. And manufactured products inflation stood at 2.04 per cent in May.
Under the food articles category, vegetable inflation dropped to -21.62 per cent in May from -18.26 per cent in April. Pulses inflation during the month of May came in at -10.41 per cent, while the inflation for wheat stood at 5.75 per cent during the month in review. Eggs, Meat & Fish inflation went down to -1.01 per cent in May from -0.29 per cent in April. Potato and onion reported inflation at -29.42 per cent and -14.41 per cent respectively.
The non-food articles reported WPI inflation at 1.53 per cent in May as against 1.40 per cent. Minerals inflation went up to 0.44 per cent in May from 9.69 per cent in April. The Crude Petroleum & Natural gas posted wholesale inflation at -12.43 per cent in May and crude petroleum was at -13.97 per cent.
Reacting on this, Rahul Agrawal, Senior Economist, ICRA Ltd, said, “Aided by a favourable base, the WPI inflation expectedly flattened further to a 14-month low of 0.4 per cent in May 2025 from 0.9 per cent in April 2025, printing somewhat lower than ICRA’s estimate (+0.7 per cent) for the month. The cooling was broad-based, with the food, non-food manufacturing, minerals, and fuel and power segments contributing to the dip in the headline print between these months. Notably, the WPI food inflation print slumped to 1.7 per cent in May 2025, the lowest in 19 months, amid the subdued sequential uptick in prices.”
Further, ICRA expects the WPI-food inflation to soften further in June from 1.7 per cent in May 2025. “Higher crude oil prices, along with some depreciation in the INR relative to the USD, would impart upward pressure on the WPI inflation print for June 2025, which is nevertheless likely to remain benign at around 0.6-0.8 per cent in June 2025,” added Rahul Agrawal.
Source: The Financial Express
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