Wholesale Price Inflation Rises 3.88 Pc In March On Surge In Crude Rates

Wholesale price inflation rose for the fifth straight month, at 3.88% in March, driven by a sharp spike in rates of fuel, power and manufactured items amid the West Asia crisis, government data showed on Wednesday.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was 2.13% in the previous month and 2.25% in March last year.

"Positive rate of inflation in March 2026 is primarily due to increase in prices of crude petroleum & natural gas, other manufacturing, non-food articles, manufacture of basic metals and food articles, etc.," the industry ministry said in a statement.

According to WPI data, inflation in the fuel and power basket spiked to 1.05% in March, from a deflation of 3.78% in February.

Inflation in crude petroleum spiked to 51.57% during March, against a deflation of 1.29% in the previous month.

Manufactured products inflation rose to 3.39% in March, from 2.92% in February.

The pace of hike in food articles prices, however, eased to 1.90%, from 2.19% in February.

In vegetables, inflation softened to 1.45% in March, against 4.73% in February.

The ongoing crisis in West Asia after the US-Israel attack on Iran has led to a sharp rise in crude oil prices globally. Crude prices have risen by more than 50% since the crisis began on February 28.

The government, on March 26, reduced excise duty by ₹10 per litre on both petrol and diesel to ensure that fuel retailers do not pass the higher crude oil price to consumers.

The excise duty cut decision was taken in response to the steep and rapid rise in international crude oil prices, which had surged from approximately $70 per barrel to around $122 per barrel over the month — an increase of nearly 75% in under four weeks, driven by the ongoing conflict in West Asia and associated disruptions to global energy supply chains.

Consumer price index-based retail inflation rose 3.4% in March compared to 3.21% in the preceding month, mainly due to an uptick in certain food items, data released earlier this week showed.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its first bi-monthly monetary policy earlier this month kept interest rates unchanged.

The RBI mainly tracks retail inflation for deciding on benchmark lending rates.