Wholesale inflation narrows to (-)0.32% in November on uptick in food, fuel prices

The wholesale price-based inflation remained in negative territory at (-) 0.32% in November 2025, mainly due to uptick in prices of food articles like pulses and vegetables, according to official data released on Monday.

WPI-based inflation was (-) 1.21% in October and 2.16% in November last year.

"Negative rate of inflation in November 2025 is primarily due to a decrease in prices of food articles, mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, manufacture of basic metals and electricity, etc," the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.

On a month-on-month basis, the index for primary articles rose 2.07% to 192.1 in November from 188.2 in October. Prices of minerals increased 4.50%, food articles 2.50% and non-food articles 1.28%, while prices of crude petroleum and natural gas declined 1.62%.

The fuel and power index increased 1.03% during the month to 146.5, driven by a sharp 6.70% rise in electricity prices.

Mineral oil prices declined 0.67%, while coal prices remained unchanged.

The manufactured products index, which carries the highest weight of 64.23% in the WPI basket, edged down 0.07% in November to 145.0.

Out of 22 two-digit NIC groups under manufactured products, 14 recorded a decline in prices, seven saw an increase and one remained unchanged.

The WPI Food Index rose to 195.0 in November from 192.0 in October. However, food inflation based on the WPI remained negative at (-) 2.60%, though it narrowed from (-) 5.04% in the previous month.

The ministry also revised the final WPI for September 2025, placing the index for all commodities at 155.0 with an inflation rate of 0.19%.

Low inflation in the current fiscal year has given the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) room to cut policy interest rates by 1.25 percentage points.

The Reserve Bank, earlier this month, significantly lowered the inflation projection for the current fiscal to 2% from 2.6% estimated earlier, as the economy continues to witness rapid disinflation.

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

Earlier this month, the RBI had cut key policy interest rates by 25 bps to 5.25%, saying that the Indian economy is in a "rare Goldilocks period" marked by high growth and low inflation.

The Reserve Bank last week raised the FY26 GDP growth projection to 7.3%, from its earlier estimate of 6.8%. India recorded an 8.2% growth in the September quarter, and 7.8% in the June quarter.