About WPI

• Wholesale Price Index measures and tracks the changes in the price of goods in the stages before the retail level. It provides estimates of inflation at the wholesale transaction level for the economy as a whole. 
• WPI basket does not cover services.
• It is released by the Office of Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. 
• The base year is 2011-2012. 
• The index basket consists of commodities under 3 main categories in decreasing order of weightage: Manufactured products, Primary Articles and Fuel and Power. 

Why in News?

• The annual rate of inflation based on WPI is 12.96% (Provisional) for the month of January, 2022 (over January, 2021), which is a continuous decline from 14.87% in November, 2021 and 13.56% in December, 2021. 
• The high rate of inflation in January, 2022 is primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, basic metals, chemicals and chemical products, food articles etc as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

Reference:

1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1798220