Pariksha SaathiWPI inflation rises to 11.39% in September 2026, from 9.92% in August
Provisional data released on 14 October 2026 by the Office of the Economic Adviser in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) put annual inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) at 11.39% for September 2026, up from 9.92% in August. The ministry attributed the rise mainly to higher prices of mineral oils, food articles, crude petroleum and natural gas, and basic metals. Among the major groups, inflation in fuel and power rose to 25.85% from 22.93% in August, in manufactured products to 9.76% from 8.37%, and the WPI food index to 8.66% from 7.05%. The WPI tracks prices at the wholesale or producer level and is distinct from the Consumer Price Index that the Reserve Bank of India uses for its inflation target.
Drafted with AI assistance from news coverage, then checked statement by statement against the official PIB release linked above by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
The Wholesale Price Index is compiled by the Office of the Economic Adviser in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and the provisional figure for a month is released on the 14th of the following month. It is not the measure the Reserve Bank targets: under the flexible inflation targeting framework in force since 5 August 2016 (Section 45ZA-45ZB of the RBI Act, inserted by the Finance Act, 2016), the Monetary Policy Committee aims at 4% inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (Combined), with a tolerance band of 2% to 6%.
Reference: RBI’s FAQ on the Monetary Policy Committee and the inflation target
Check yourself: if WPI inflation crosses 6%, has the RBI’s inflation target been breached?
Not by itself. The 4% target and the 2-6% band apply to CPI (Combined) inflation published by the National Statistics Office, not to the WPI; the WPI is a separate producer-side index from DPIIT, so a WPI print above 6% is not a breach of the statutory target.
Revision task: from this release, note the headline WPI inflation rate for September 2026 and the previous month’s figure, which of the three groups (primary articles, fuel and power, manufactured products) moved most, and keep these month-specific numbers apart from the standing facts about who compiles the index and what the RBI actually targets.
Test yourself
According to the provisional data released on 14 October 2026, what was India's WPI inflation for September 2026?
Show the answer
Answer: 11.39%
Headline WPI inflation for September 2026 was 11.39%, up from 9.92% in August; 25.85% was the fuel and power group and 8.66% the WPI food index.
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