Wholesale price inflation rose for the fourth straight month, at 2.13 per cent in February, driven by an uptick in prices of food and non-food articles, even though vegetable prices eased on a month-on-month basis, government data showed on Monday. Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was 1.81 per cent in the previous month and 2.45 per cent in February last year. "Positive rate of inflation in February 2026 is primarily due to an increase in prices of other manufacturing, manufacture of basic metals, non-food articles, food articles and textiles, etc.," the industry ministry said in a statement. According to WPI data, inflation in food articles was 2.19 per cent in February, as against 1.55 per cent in the previous month. In vegetables, inflation eased to 4.73 per cent in February against 6.78 per cent in January. However, pulses, potato and egg, meat and fish saw an uptick in inflation in February over the previous month. In the case of manufactured products, WPI inflati