Key Details
Provisional Estimates of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for August 2026, based on the new 2022–23 series, show that upstream price pressures remained broad, with fuel recording the highest inflation among the three major groups.
Indicator | August 2026 | July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
All-commodity WPI inflation | 9.92% | 9.78% |
Primary articles | 7.76% | 8.52% |
Fuel and power | 22.93% | 20.05% |
Manufactured products | 8.37% | 8.29% |
WPI Food Index | 7.05% | 6.65% |
All-commodity WPI | 110.8 | 110.0 |
Output Producer Price Index | 110.8 | 109.9 |
Trial Input PPI for manufacturing | 104.2 | 105.9 |
Principal drivers: Mineral oils, food articles, manufactured food products, basic metals, non-food articles and chemicals.
April–August inflation: All-commodity WPI inflation averaged 9.56%, compared with -0.20% during the corresponding period of FY 2025-26.
Data status: The August WPI estimate is provisional and was compiled with a weighted response rate of 84.4%.
Revision: Final WPI inflation for June 2026 was revised from 9.87% to 9.97%.
Fuel Overtakes Other Major Sources of Wholesale Pressure
The increase in headline wholesale inflation was driven principally by fuel and power, where year-on-year inflation rose from 20.05% to 22.93%.
Within this group, mineral-oil inflation reached 38.48%, while crude petroleum and natural gas recorded 34.41%inflation. Electricity prices, by contrast, were 1.73% lower than a year earlier.
The figures indicate that India’s wholesale price pressure is being shaped heavily by energy-related commodities rather than moving uniformly across all components.
Food Inflation Strengthens Despite Easing Primary Articles
Inflation in primary articles moderated from 8.52% to 7.76%, helped by slower inflation in non-food articles and minerals. Food pressures nevertheless increased.
Inflation in food articles rose to 5.67%, while manufactured food products recorded 9.65%. Together, these pushed the broader WPI Food Index from 6.65% in July to 7.05% in August.
The distinction matters because food-price pressure is present both in agricultural commodities and at the processing stage.
Manufacturing Inflation Remains Broad but Uneven
Manufactured-product inflation increased marginally to 8.37%. Chemicals recorded inflation of 14.30%, textiles 12.63%, rubber and plastics 11.18%, electrical equipment 11.11% and basic metals 10.88%.
Prices of computer, electronic and optical products were 0.47% lower than a year earlier, showing that the manufacturing increase was not uniform across industries.
Manufactured products carry a weight of more than 63% in the WPI. Even modest changes in this group therefore have a substantial influence on the headline index.
Producer Output and Input Prices Moved in Opposite Directions
Alongside WPI, the release provides the latest Output Producer Price Index and trial Input Producer Price Indexunder the 2022–23 statistical framework.
The all-commodity Output PPI rose from 109.9 to 110.8 between July and August. The trial Input PPI for manufacturing moved in the opposite direction, falling from 105.9 to 104.2.
This aggregate decline was strongly influenced by lower input prices for coke and refined petroleum products and other manufacturing. Input costs continued to rise in several industries, including food products, chemicals, rubber and plastics, electrical equipment and pharmaceuticals.
The divergence provides more information about changing cost conditions but cannot, on its own, establish how profit margins changed across individual industries or firms.
What Do WPI, Output PPI and Input PPI Measure?
Wholesale Price Index: Tracks price changes for a basket of goods at the wholesale or producer-facing stage. It does not cover services or directly measure household retail inflation.
Output Producer Price Index: Measures changes in the prices domestic producers receive for their output.
Input Producer Price Index: Measures changes in the prices producers pay for goods and services used in production. The current manufacturing Input PPI remains a trial series.
Separating output and input prices helps show whether changes are occurring in selling prices, production costs or both.
Policy Relevance
August’s figures point to persistent upstream inflation, with energy and processed food requiring particular attention.
Energy transmission: Sustained mineral-oil inflation can raise transport, logistics and production costs across sectors, even where direct input-price movements differ.
Food supply: Simultaneous pressure in food articles and manufactured foods warrants attention to farm supply, storage, processing and distribution costs.
Industrial exposure: Sector-level data reveal which industries face stronger price pressures than the manufacturing average, improving the basis for targeted assessment.
Statistical interpretation: WPI should be read alongside consumer inflation and the new producer-price measures; movements in wholesale prices do not pass through automatically or uniformly to retail prices.
Follow the Full Statistical Release Here: Provisional Estimates of WPI, Output PPI and Trial Input PPI for August 2026