India's August CPI rises, WPI returns to positive territory

India's consumer-price inflation inched up in August, breaking a long run of declines, while wholesale inflation returned to positive territory, government data and private reports showed. The National Statistics Office said headline retail inflation, measured by the consumer price index, rose to 2.07 percent in August from 1.61 percent in July, driven largely by higher prices for vegetables, meat, fish and eggs. Separately, provisional government wholesale price index data showed WPI inflation moved back into positive territory at 0.52 percent in August, after two months of contraction.

The uptick in retail inflation reflected fading high-base effects as well as a modest sequential buildup in food prices, which account for nearly half of the CPI basket. Food inflation remained in deflation, narrowing to minus 0.69 percent in August from minus 1.76 percent in July, the NSO said, with vegetable prices still sharply negative on a year-on-year basis. CPI vegetable inflation was around minus 15.9 percent, while WPI vegetable deflation eased to about minus 14.2 percent, government releases showed. At the same time, oil and fats posted steep year-on-year increases, and certain...