Wholesale: fuel and power (WPI)
WPI = Wholesale Price Index- How often
- Every monthWith the WPI, 14th of the following month, 12:00 noon
- Next release
- Mon 16 NovIn 4 days · 12:00 noon
- Base year
- 2022-23 = 100
September 2026, up from 22.93% in August 2026.
Events on this chart
Source: OEA, DPIIT, released 14 Oct 2026 · Chart: Clarity UPSC
- Previous
- 22.93%Aug 2026
- Highest
- 50.95%Jun 2022
- Lowest
- −25.57%Feb 2015
Higher than 88% of the 162 readings since Apr 2013.
Story
Price rise of coal, mineral oils and electricity at the wholesale stage.
What is happening now As of Sep 2026
Wholesale fuel and power prices were 25.85% higher in September 2026 than a year earlier, up from 22.93% in August. In September 2025 the rate was −2.55%. Mineral oils rose 40.02%, crude petroleum and natural gas 57.32% and coal and lignite 9.31%, while electricity was 0.43% cheaper.
The Office of the Economic Adviser (OEA) named mineral oils, crude petroleum and natural gas, and coal and lignite among the drivers of wholesale inflation. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the renewed conflict in West Asia had caused sharp swings in crude oil prices. When its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) raised the repo rate by 0.25 percentage point to 5.50% on 7 October 2026, it cited high energy prices that were still passing through to other prices.
Why it matters
Fuel and power enter the cost of almost everything: moving goods by truck, running factories and farm pumps, and lighting homes and shops. When they cost more, transport and production costs rise, and other prices tend to follow.
Mineral oils, the largest part of the group, are made from crude oil, whose world price swings with events abroad. So this group brings global energy shocks into Indian prices. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) watches how far high energy prices pass through to other prices when it sets interest rates.
What it is
The fuel and power index follows the wholesale prices of energy: mineral oils such as petroleum products, electricity, coal and lignite, and crude petroleum and natural gas. It is one of the three major groups of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), compiled by the Office of the Economic Adviser (OEA) in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
In the 2022-23 series the group carries 14.11% of the WPI: mineral oils 8.19 points, electricity 4.46, coal and lignite 0.74, and crude petroleum and natural gas 0.72. The new series added solar, wind and nuclear electricity, and moved crude petroleum and natural gas here from primary articles. Prices are basic prices, which leave out net taxes and trade and transport margins.
Mineral oils make up close to 60% of the group, so petroleum product prices drive most of its movement. Swings here can move headline WPI sharply, as mineral oils and crude petroleum did in April and May 2026.
Read this number
- The publisher
- The Office of the Economic Adviser in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) compiles the WPI, the producer price indices and the core industries index.
Terms on this page (4)
- DPIIT
- Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
- MPC
- Monetary Policy Committee
- OEA
- Office of the Economic Adviser
- RBI
- Reserve Bank of India
History
- 12 May 2017Base 2011-12 series: electricity becomes a single item, priced at the average rate at which generating stations sell power, in place of retail tariffs.
- 15 Jun 2026Base 2022-23 series from May 2026. Solar, wind and nuclear electricity join, and crude petroleum and natural gas move in from primary articles.
- 15 Jun 2026Producer Price Indices begin alongside the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), which will continue for five years and then stop.
Readings
| Period | Value | Status | Released |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2026 | 25.85% | Provisional | 14 Oct 2026 |
| Aug 2026 | 22.93% | Provisional | 14 Sep 2026 |
| Jul 2026 | 19.82%revised from 20.05% | Final | 14 Oct 2026 |
| Jun 2026 | 27.18%revised from 27.41% | Final | 14 Sep 2026 |
| May 2026 | 30.80%revised from 30.33% | Final | 14 Aug 2026 |
| Apr 2026 | 25.00%revised from 24.89% | Final | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Mar 2026 | 3.20% | Final | 14 Oct 2026 |
| Feb 2026 | −3.37% | Final | 14 Oct 2026 |
| Jan 2026 | −3.83% | Final | 14 Oct 2026 |
| Dec 2025 | −2.63% | Final | 14 Oct 2026 |
| Nov 2025 | −2.96% | Final | 14 Oct 2026 |
| Oct 2025 | −3.86% | Final | 14 Oct 2026 |
For UPSC
Fuel and power carries 14.11% of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) on base 2022-23, with mineral oils its largest part. Know that the 2026 series moved crude petroleum and natural gas into this group and added renewable and nuclear electricity.