Inflation in food articles remained more or less unchanged at 1.98 per cent in April against 1.90 per cent in March. Inflation in non-food items, however, jumped to 12.18 per cent from 11.5 per cent in the previous month.
India’s inflation rate as measured by the wholesale price index jumped to a 42-month high of 8.3 per cent year-on-year in April, led by a sharp rise in electricity costs after the continuing West Asia war disrupted supplies.
Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was at 3.88 percent in March and 0.85 percent in April last year, indicating a strong increase in producer-level rate pressures.
Global stockbroker Barclays said the continuous surge in WPI inflating cost of living was the largest on record in the series, mainly owing to the jump in global oil prices.
The gas and electricity segment emerged as the largest contributor to the spike as inflation in the classification hit a 42 month high of 24.71 percent in April from 1.05 percent in March. The cost of living surged, with unrefined oil rising 88.06 percent alone, the most since October 2021.
The jump in prices comes in the wake of interruptions to India’s petroleum supplies due to the West Asia war and the stranglehold of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil transport passage. “The rise in international crude prices has also significantly increased the cost of gas imports.The positive rate of inflation in April 2026 is mainly due to an increase in the cost of mineral oils, unrefined petroleum & gas, standard steels, other manufacturing and non-food goods, etc,” the business and market ministry said in a statement.
Core WPI inflation surged to 5 percent year-on-year, boosted by higher manufacturing prices of metals, chemicals and textiles.
The rise in the cost of living in food goods remained reasonably consistent at 1.98 per cent in April vs 1.90 per cent in March. However, growing cost of living in non-food goods increased to 12.18 percent from 11.5 per cent in the previous month.
Produced items rising cost of living correspondingly jumped to 4.62 per cent in April from 3.39 percent in March, suggesting a wider pass-through of higher input prices across industries.
The LPG growing cost of living in the fuel and electricity basket shot up to 10.92 percent in April as opposed contraction of 1.54 percent in March. Gas inflation shot up to 32.40 per cent from 2.50 per cent and inflation in high speed diesel to 25.19 per cent from 3.26 per cent.
Even with an over 50 percent surge in global oil prices, the government has so far kept the listed prices of petrol, diesel and domestic LPG untouched to protect consumers from the immediate impact of higher fuel expenditures. But, costs of the commercial LPG cyndrical tubes have really been genuinely raised.
The cushioning effect was evident in April retail inflation data with consumer expense increasing cost of living remaining relatively low at 3.48 per cent.
