Wholesale price inflation rises to 2.61% in May

India's wholesale price-based inflation rose 2.61% in May mainly driven by increase in price of food items, government data showed on Friday.

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

Food prices rose 7.4% on year compared with an increase of 5.52% in April, while vegetables prices increased 32.42% YoY from 27.94% rise in the previous month.

Prices of manufactured products rose 0.78% YoY as against a 0.42% drop in the previous month. Fuel and power prices rose 1.35% compared with a 1.38% rise in April.

Meanwhile, data released earlier this week showed India’s retail inflation rate cooled slightly in May as the CPI inflation fell to 4.75%, partly aided by a drop in fuel prices.

(With inputs from Reuters)