New Delhi: Wholesale prices-based inflation accelerated to a 10-month high of 3.10 per cent in January mainly due to costlier food articles, particulary onion and potato, official data showed on Friday. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation was at 2.59 per cent in December 2019, and 2.76 percent in January 2019, as per the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The earlier high was recorded in April 2019, when the WPI inflation stood at 3.18 percent. During January this year, the rate of price rise for food articles stood at 11.51 per cent as against 13.24 per cent a month earlier.

Inflation in the vegetable category stood at 52.72 percent, while onion prices spurted by a whopping 293 percent, followed by potato at 87.84 percent. In the manufactured food category, wholesale inflation was recorded at 0.34 percent against a negative print of 0.25 per cent in December. Likewise for fuel and power category, it was at 3.42 per cent against (-) 1.46 per cent. Meanwhile, ICRA Principal Economist Aditi Nayar said the WPI inflation could go up further in the coming months mainly because of higher import duties. "Higher customs duties would push up the inflation related to imports to some extent going forward. However, the impact of the spread of the coronavirus on risk sentiment and commodity prices, including crude oil, is expected to exert a substantial moderation on the wholesale inflation in February 2020," she said.