Rising for the second straight month, wholesale price-based inflation jumped to 0.79% in May with vegetable prices witnessing a double-digit growth.
The April WPI-based inflation was at 0.34% and in March it was (-)0.45% while it stood at (-)2.20% in May last year.
Food inflation rose to 7.88% in May as against 4.23 per cent in April, showed a government data on Tuesday.
Inflation in vegetables came in at 12.94%, a sharp rise from 2.21%, a month earlier. Pulses inflation remained stubborn at 35.56%.
Prices of egg, meat and fish paced up by 9.75% and in fruits the rise was 3.80%. However, kitchen staple onion continued to witness decline at (-)21.70% in May.
Manufactured products inflation too inched up to 0.91% from 0.71% in April.
The hardening of WPI food inflation follows the trend of retail inflation released on Monday.
Retail inflation touched a 21-month high of 5.76% in May mainly due to rising prices of food items.
The hardening of inflation could further dent the chances of a interest rate cut by Reserve Bank in its policy review in the months ahead.
In its policy review earlier this month, RBI had retained January 2017 retail inflation target at 5%, though with an upward bias on account of firming of oil prices and implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations.
{{/usCountry}}In its policy review earlier this month, RBI had retained January 2017 retail inflation target at 5%, though with an upward bias on account of firming of oil prices and implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations.
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