New Delhi: Factory gate inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) surged to a 30 month high of 11.4% in Sept from 9.9% in Aug, as rising fuel and manufactured goods prices pushed inflation into double digits, the official data released Wednesday showed. In comparison, WPI stood at -0.2% in Sept 2025.Data shows fuel and power inflation accelerated to 25.9% in Sept from 22.9% in Aug as prices for crude petroleum, natural gas and mineral oil continued to rise, amid uncertainty surrounding key maritime chokepoints due to renewed hostilities in West Asia.Inflation in manufactured products, which account for nearly two-thirds of the WPI basket, rose to 9.8% from 8.4% in Aug, with acceleration being particularly sharp in basic metals (17%), chemicals and chemical products (16.7%), textiles and rubber products (13.7%) and electrical equipment (12%).CareEdge chief economist Rajani Sinha said India’s crude basket and spot brent crude prices are trading well above brent futures, indicating tightness in the physical supply of crude. “While retail fuel prices have remained unchanged, oil marketing companies have raised bulk diesel prices, which are now nearly Rs 50-60 per litre higher than retail prices. Persistently elevated crude prices could increase freight, agricultural and irrigation and transportation costs, which could indirectly feed into the retail inflation,” she added. Food prices also contributed to the Sept increase as WPI Food Index rose to 8.7% from 7.1% in Aug, continuing an upward trend seen over recent month.Though RBI tracks consumer price index (CPI) based retail inflation for its policy rate setting, the former tends to feed into the latter, albeit with a lag. Official data released Monday showed retail inflation inching to 5.5% in Sept from 4.8% in Aug.