New Delhi, Lower prices of manufactured goods and fuel slightly eased India's December 2021 wholesale inflation on a sequential basis. Accordingly, the annual rate of inflation, based on wholesale prices, rose to 13.56 per cent from 14.23 per cent reported for November 2021.

However, on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data furnished by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has risen exponentially over December 2020, when it stood at 1.95 per cent.

"The high rate of inflation in December 2021 is primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, basic metals, crude petroleum and natural gas, chemicals and chemical products, food products, textile and paper and paper products etc as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year," the ministry said in its review of 'Index Numbers of Wholesale Price in India' for December.

"The month over month change in WPI for the month of December, 2021 stood at (-) 0.35 per cent as compared to November, 2021."