India’s wholesale inflation rose to 3.88 per cent in March 2026, driven by primary articles and manufactured product prices, signalling rising cost pressures amid West Asia tensions
India’s wholesale inflation accelerated to a more than three-year high of 3.88 per cent in March, underscoring mounting price pressures as global commodity costs rise amid ongoing tensions in West Asia.
Data released on Wednesday showed wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation climbed to 3.88 per cent year-on-year in March, up sharply from 2.13 per cent in February and above economists’ expectations of 3.04 per cent.
The latest reading marks the fastest pace of wholesale inflation in over three years, driven by firming prices across fuel, food and manufactured goods.
On a month-on-month basis, the WPI rose 1.64 per cent in March, compared with 0.38 per cent in February, pointing to a sharp build-up in input cost pressures.
A disaggregated view of the data showed primary articles inflation jumped to 6.36 per cent, led by a surge in crude petroleum and natural gas prices. Inflation in manufactured products edged up to 3.39 per cent from 2.92 per cent in the previous month, suggesting that higher input costs are increasingly being passed through at the factory gate.
Fuel and power inflation turned positive at 1.05 per cent, reversing a contraction of 3.78 per cent in February, in line with the rebound in global oil prices.
Wholesale food inflation remained steady at 1.85 per cent in March. Within the segment, vegetable prices rose 1.45 per cent year-on-year, though the pace eased from February’s 4.73 per cent increase.
The uptick in wholesale inflation comes alongside a recent firming in retail inflation, reinforcing concerns that elevated energy prices — amid the prolonged West Asia conflict — could gradually transmit into broader price levels.
With India heavily reliant on crude imports, sustained volatility in global energy markets remains a key upside risk to inflation.
First Published:
April 15, 2026, 12:12 IST
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Dheeraj Kumar is a Business Correspondent at Firstpost, reporting on markets, macroeconomics and corporate developments. A postgraduate in English Journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi, he previously worked with Reuters’ Global News Monitoring team and has also worked with Prasar Bharati, and PTI. He is an avid reader with a deep interest in philosophy and the evolving role of artificial intelligence in journalism.
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