India’s wholesale price inflation dropped sharply to 0.85% in April 2025, down from 2.05% in March driven by falling prices in the fuel power and primary articles categories, even as the manufacturing sector remained stable and showed continued strength.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) reflects the average change in prices of goods traded in bulk and serves as a key measure of inflation at the producer level. It captures supply and demand trends across critical sectors such as agriculture, mining, and manufacturing.

WPI Trends: April 2025 sees mixed movement in key sectorsIn April 2025, India’s Wholesale Price Index (WPI) showed a mixed month-on-month trend across major categories.

The index for primary articles declined marginally by 0.11%, mainly due to a sharp drop in crude petroleum & natural gas (-5.31%) and non-food articles (-1.78%), even as minerals (+7.81%) and food articles (+0.36%) rose.

Fuel & Power saw the steepest decline of 2.82%, led by falling prices of mineral oils (-3.95%) and electricity (-1.38%), although coal prices edged up slightly (+0.22%).

In contrast, Manufactured Products recorded a 0.35% rise, with 16 out of 22 manufacturing categories seeing price increases—particularly basic metals, chemicals, and machinery—while sectors like textiles and pharmaceuticals witnessed declines.

WPI food index sees uptick, but inflation cools

The WPI Food Index, which combines 'food articles' from the primary articles group and 'food products' from manufactured goods, rose slightly from 188.8 in March 2025 to 189.3 in April 2025.

Despite this uptick, the annual food inflation rate eased significantly, falling from 4.66% in March to 2.55% in April.

Movement of WPI so far FY25:

India’s retail inflation drops to 3.16% in April, lowest since July 2019India’s retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), dropped to 3.16% in April 2025 from 3.34% in March — an 18 basis point decline, marking the lowest reading since July 2019. Food inflation also saw a notable drop, easing sharply to 1.78% in April from 2.69% the previous month, down by 91 basis points.

This is the lowest food inflation recorded since October 2021.The moderation in both headline and food inflation is largely driven by falling prices in key categories such as vegetables, pulses, fruits, meat and fish, cereals, and personal care products. Read more