India’s Wholesale Inflation Reaches 11.39% as Fuel and Factory Prices Rise

India’s wholesale inflation accelerated to 11.39% in September from 9.92% in August, according to provisional figures released on October 14. Prices rose faster across all three main groups in the Wholesale Price Index, bringing renewed attention to the costs faced by businesses and the prices moving through supply chains.

The official index, using 2022–23 as its base year, increased to 112.5 from 110.8 a month earlier. Fuel and power recorded annual inflation of 25.85%, primary articles 8.67%, and manufactured products 9.76%. The government identified petroleum products, food, coal, metals, chemicals and several manufacturing categories among the drivers. Official wholesale-price release.

Pressure extends beyond one category

The Financial Express reported that fuel and power inflation had been 22.93% in August, while manufactured products stood at 8.37% and primary articles at 7.76%. The increases across the groups show why the headline reading cannot be understood through a single commodity alone.

The WPI Food Index rose 8.66% from a year earlier, compared with 7.05% in August. This food measure combines food articles with manufactured food products and carries a weight of 24.99% in the overall index. The final July wholesale-inflation reading remained unchanged at 9.78%. Financial Express data report.

Annual inflation and monthly movement

The 11.39% headline is a comparison with September 2025. It does not mean wholesale prices rose by that amount between August and September. Using the published index levels, the monthly increase was approximately 1.53%, calculated as 112.5 divided by 110.8, minus one.

The rise in the annual inflation rate was 1.47 percentage points. Keeping these measures separate matters: the index level, the year-on-year inflation rate and the change in that rate answer different questions. Confusing them can make a price report appear more dramatic or less significant than its underlying figures justify.

A different view from household prices

The separate consumer-price release put September retail inflation at 5.54%, with food inflation at 7.74%. Rural retail inflation was 6.08% and urban inflation 4.88%. These figures describe the consumer basket and should be read alongside, rather than substituted for, wholesale data. MoSPI consumer-price release.

For readers, the useful distinction is between costs measured at different stages of the economy. A wholesale increase does not establish an equal increase in every family’s shopping bill. Product mix, business decisions and the period being compared all affect the interpretation.

September’s wholesale estimates remain provisional. The official release reports an 83.4% weighted response rate and schedules the next monthly release for November 16. Later revisions and subsequent readings will help show whether the September acceleration persists.