The wholesale price inflation jumped to a five-month high of 12.54 per cent in the festival month of October against 10.66 per cent in the previous month as the rate of price rise in raw materials showed an upswing.

       As demand is recovering now, industry is likely to pass on the higher costs to consumers which may reflect on retail price inflation, experts said.

       In fact, the widely-tracked non-food , non-oil inflation, called core inflation in technical jargon, rose to a fresh all-time high of 11.9 per cent in October.

       The retail price inflation also rose in October, but the acceleration was marginal -- to 4.48 per cent from 4.35 per cent over this period.

       Read more: Retail inflation rises to 4.48% in Oct, reverses 4-month downward trend

       This could partly be attributed to higher weightage of primary food items in the consumer price index (CPI) than in the wholesale price index (WPI). Food items have over 47.25 per cent weight in CPI and only 15.26 per cent weight in WPI.

       The primary food items continued to see price fall in October though the deceleration reduced to 1.69 per cent from 4.69 per cent in the previous month. Among major items showing rise were fruits--from 4.47 per cent in September to 8.14 per cent. In fact, pulses which have been showing huge price rises in the recent months witnessed a decline in inflation to 5.36 per cent in October from 9.42 per cent in September.

       The rate of price fall in vegetables declined to 18.49 per cent from 32.45 per cent over this period. Icra economist Aditi Nayar said there was a month-on-month rise in vegetable index and early data for November suggests a continuation of the rise in prices of vegetables such as potatoes, tomatoes and onions, which will weigh against a seasonal moderation in the food index for the current month.

       Fuel and power saw the inflation rate rising to 37.18 per cent from 24.81 per cent over this period. Nayar partly attributed this to the issues related to coal availability that led to spike in electricity prices.

       Besides, inflation in petrol climbed to 64.72 per cent from 54.85 per cent and that in diesel to 64.72 per cent from 54.85 per cent. However, the Centre's move to cut excise duty on petrol by Rs five a litre and on diesel by Rs ten a litre from November four would pull down this inflation now, depending on global oil prices. As many as 25 states have also cut value added taxes on these two fuels which would further dampen inflation.

       Manufactured items as a group saw inflation rising to 12.04 per cent from 11.41 per cent during this period. Even processed food items in this category saw inflation rising to 12.74 per cent from 12.65 per cent.

       Raw materials such as vegetable oil and animal fats, chemical and chemical products, rubber and plastic products, cement, lime and plaster, basic metals, semi-finished steel, saw inflation rising in October over September.

       D R E Reddy, CEO and managing partner, CRCL LLP, said the rise in the WPI is a cause of concern as the industries may pass it on to the end consumers.

       Nayar said," With demand reviving, we expect producers to start passing through higher input and freight costs, even as the tax cuts on fuels will offer them a breather."