Our Bureau
New Delhi
India’s wholesale inflation has jumped to a 3-year high of 3.88% in March 2026, up from 2.13% in February, official data released by the Government shows. The year‑on‑year rise, measured by the All India Wholesale Price Index (WPI), is described as the highest in over three years.
The main driver of the spike has been energy prices, especially crude petroleum and natural gas. Provisional WPI data shows that inflation in the “fuel and power” group rose sharply, with the index climbing from about 147.6 in February to 153.7 in March. Crude petroleum & natural gas prices alone registered an inflation of around 36.16% in March, reflecting the impact of global oil‑price pressures and supply disruptions.
Manufacturing, which has the largest weight of 64.23% in the WPI basket, also recorded a rise of 0.88% in March over the previous month. The primary‑articles group, with a weight of 22.62%, increased by 2.28%, taking its index from 192.9 to 197.3. Overall, the WPI‑based inflation is now 3.88% over March 2025, compared with 2.25% in the same month last year.
Policy watchers say the higher wholesale inflation may influence the Reserve Bank of India’s stance on the repo rate in the coming months, even though retail inflation in the consumer basket remains below the central bank’s 4% target at 3.4%.
