New Delhi: Wholesale price-based inflation spiked to a record high of 15.08 percent in April on rising prices across segments from food to commodities. The WPI-based inflation was 14.55 percent in March and 10.74 percent in April last year. "The high rate of inflation in April 2022 was primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, basic metals, crude petroleum and natural gas, food articles, non-food articles, food products and chemicals and chemical products etc as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year," the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.
The WPI inflation has remained in double digit for the 13th consecutive month since April last year.
Inflation in food articles was 8.35 percent, as prices of vegetables, wheat, fruits and potato witnessed sharp spike over the year-ago period. In the fuel and power basket, inflation was 38.66 percent, while in manufactured products and oil seeds, it was 10.85 percent and 16.10 percent, respectively.
Inflation in crude petroleum and natural gas was 69.07 percent in April.
Data released last week showed that retail inflation rose to a near eight-year high of 7.79 percent in April, remaining above the Reserve Bank's inflation target for the fourth straight month.
To tame stubbornly high inflation, the RBI earlier this month hiked its key interest rate by 0.40 percent and cash reserve ratio by 0.50 percent in a surprise move.
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