New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) Wholesale price inflation extended upward momentum for the third straight month, at 1.81 per cent in January, driven by an uptick in prices of food, non-food articles, and manufactured items on a month-on-month basis, government data showed on Monday.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was 2.51 per cent in January last year, while in the previous month (December 2025), it was 0.83 per cent.

"Positive rate of inflation in January 2026 is primarily due to increase in prices of manufacture of basic metals, other manufacturing, non-food articles, food articles, and textiles, etc," the industry ministry said in a statement.

According to WPI data, inflation in food articles was 1.55 per cent in January as against deflation of 0.43 per cent in December.

In vegetables, inflation was 6.78 per cent in January as against deflation of 3.50 per cent in December.

In the case of manufactured products, WPI inflation inched up to 2.86 per cent, as against 1.82 per cent in December.

Non-food articles category inflation spiked to 7.58 per cent in January, against 2.95 per cent in December.

Negative inflation, or deflation, continued in the fuel and power sectors, at 4.01 per cent in January, as against 2.31 per cent in December.

The country's retail inflation inched up to 2.75 per cent in January, data released last week showed.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced policy interest rates by 1.25 percentage points in the current fiscal year as inflation remained low.

The RBI mainly tracks retail inflation for deciding on benchmark interest rates. Earlier this month, the RBI retained key policy interest rates at 5.25 per cent. PTI JD TRB

Inflation trends show rising wholesale prices, prompting continued RBI focus on retail inflation for monetary policy. Wholesale price inflation rose to 1.81% in January due to increases in food articles, non-food articles, textiles and manufacturing subgroups, while fuel and power remained in deflation. Manufactured products and non-food articles recorded higher inflation compared with the prior month. The Reserve Bank of India continues to emphasise retail inflation as the primary indicator for benchmark interest-rate decisions, having reduced policy rates earlier in the fiscal year and subsequently retained key rates.