India's retail inflation shoots up to 1.62 per cent

New Delhi, July 14: Ballooning prices of food articles pushed up India's annual wholesale price index sharply to 1.62 per cent for June from 0.79 per cent for the month before. This kept the inflation level in the positive domain for the third month after 17 months in the negative.

The annual inflation for potatoes, as per data on official wholesale price index (WPI) released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, was as much as 64.48 per cent, while for pulses it was 26.61 per cent. Vegetable prices were 16.91 per cent higher.

Significantly, the final wholesale price index for the month of April was also revised to suggest a higher annual inflation rate of 0.79 per cent against 0.34 per cent as reported earlier.

IANS