India, April 16 -- Wholesale price inflation rose sharply to an over 3-year high of 3.88 per cent in March, driven by a sharp spike in rates of fuel, power and manufactured items amid the West Asia crisis.

Government data released on Wednesday showed that the Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation rose for the fifth straight month in March as core inflation accelerated, amid softening of primary food items. As higher energy prices eventually generalise to other commodity prices, we expect WPI inflation to rise further in the coming months.

The high WPI inflation in March reflects elevated global commodity prices and the impact of the energy price shock since the beginning of the US-Israel-Iran conflict on February 28.

WPI inflatio...