Wholesale Inflation Softens Marginally To 12.07% In June

Wholesale inflation softened a bit in June compared to the previous month on the back of marginal decline in crude oil and food item prices. Wholesale inflation for June came in at 12.07 per cent compared with 12.94 per cent in May and -1.81 per cent during the same month last year, government data showed.

"The high rate of inflation in June 2021 is primarily due to low base effect and rise in prices of mineral oils namely petrol, diesel (HSD), naphtha, ATF, furnace oil etc, and manufactured products like basic metal, food products, chemical products etc as compared the corresponding month of the previous year," Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a press release.

Wholesale food inflation in June came in at 6.66 per cent compared with 8.11 per cent in the previous month.

The index for fuel and power group increased by 2.90 per cent to 113.7 (Provisional) in June, 2021 from 110.5 (Provisional) for the month of May, 2021. Prices of mineral oils increased by 4.91 per cent in June compared to May.

Inflation in fuel and power basket eased to 32.83 per cent during June, against 37.61 per cent in May.

Inflation in food articles too eased to 3.09 per cent in June, from 4.31 per cent May, even as onion prices spiked.

In manufactured products, inflation stood at 10.88 per cent in June, against 10.83 per cent in the previous month.

The RBI in its monetary policy last month kept interest rates unchanged at record lows and committed to maintain an accommodative policy stance to support growth.

Retail inflation remained above the RBI''s comfort level of 6 per cent for the second straight month at 6.26 per cent in June, data released earlier this week showed.