The annual rate of inflation based on the All India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is recorded at 0.39% for May 2025 over last year.
As per the data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the positive rate of inflation is primarily due to an 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.
On the month-over-month change, WPI inflation for May stood at (-) 0.06% as compared to April, 2025.
The Food Index consisting of ‘Food Articles’ increased from 189.3 in April to 189.5 in May. The rate of inflation based on the WPI Food Index decreased from 2.55% in April to 1.72% in May.
Fuel & Power declined by 0.95% to 146.7 in May from 148.1 for April. The price of mineral oils (-2.06%) decreased in May as compared to April while the price of coal (0.81%) and electricity (0.80%) increased in May compared to last month.
Speaking on the WPI numbers, Hemant Jain, president, PHDCCI said the continued softening of WPI inflation since December 2024 is a positive signal for higher economic growth in India.
“This downtrend in wholesale inflation will boost business sentiment as it will result in reduced costs of production,” he added.
As per the recently released data, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for May declined by 34 basis points to 2.82%, the lowest year-on-year inflation after February 2019.
Further, a sharp decline of 79 basis points is observed in food inflation in May compared to April 2025. The food inflation in May 2025 is the lowest after October 2021.