India's WPI inflation cools down to 13.56% in December 2021

India's Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation moderated to 13.56 percent in December 2021. At 13.56 percent, the latest wholesale inflation print is 67 basis points lower than November 2021's 14.23 percent, which is the highest in the current WPI series, data released on January 14 by the commerce ministry showed.

The decline in WPI inflation in December 2021 was driven by a fall in prices of fuel items, with wholesale fuel and power inflation climbing down to 32.30 percent from 39.81 percent in November 2021.

While the all commodity index of the WPI declined by 0.3 percent month-on-month in December 2021, the fuel and power group index of the WPI fell by 2.7 percent.

The food index also declined sequentially, albeit by a smaller 0.8 percent.

Price momentum for manufactured products ticked up very marginally in December 2021. Manufactured products, which make up nearly two-thirds of the weight of the entire WPI, saw their index index rise 0.2 percent month-on-month in December 2021. While this is slightly higher than the 0.1 percent month-on-month rise seen in November 2021, it is well below the increase seen in recent months.

Consequently, manufactured products inflation declined for the second straight month in December 2021 to 10.62 percent - the lowest in eight months.