India’s May wholesale prices rise 2.61% on year By Reuters

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s wholesale prices rose 2.61% in May, the most in 14 months, mainly driven by food items, government data showed on Friday.

May inflation was higher than the 2.5% expected by economists polled by Reuters and up from a 1.26% year-on-year rise in April.

Food prices rose 7.4% on year compared with an increase of 5.52% in April, while prices of vegetables were up 32.42% on year against a 27.94% rise in the previous month.

Manufactured product prices rose 0.78% year-on-year against a 0.42% drop in the previous month. Fuel and power prices rose 1.35% compared with a 1.38% rise in April.

India’s retail inflation rate eased slightly in May to 4.75%, partly helped by a fall in fuel prices although food prices remained elevated, government data showed on Wednesday.

Food inflation is worrying and that will put pressure on retail food inflation, said Paras Jasrai, an economist at India Ratings & Research. The retail food inflation is expected to be above 8% in June, he said.