High onion prices drive wholesale inflation up

New Delhi: Wholesale inflation rose to 0.58 per cent in November mainly on account of rising prices of food articles, with onion alone spurting by over 172 per cent during the month vis-a-vis a year ago, government data showed on Monday.

The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI), was at 0.16 per cent in October.

The inflation was at 4.47 per cent in the same month a year ago (November 2018).

Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 2 per cent compared to a build-up rate of 4.56 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year, as per the data released by the Office of Economic Adviser, Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

Inflation in food articles as a group rose to 11.08 per cent during the month as against 9.80 per cent in the previous month, mainly driven by exorbitantly high onion prices, the rates of which spiked by over 172 per cent from a year-ago, the data showed.