New Delhi, March 17 -- India's inflation based on wholesale prices rose to 2.38% in February from 2.31% in the previous month, show the Union commerce ministry's provisional data released on Monday.

The rise in wholesale price index-based inflation in February was led by a slower pace of contraction in fuel and power inflation and a pick-up in manufactured product inflation.

The latest wholesale inflation, a proxy for producer prices, was marginally higher than the 2.36% projected by economists in a Reuters poll.

Food prices, a major contributor to the index, increased by 5.94% annually in February, but eased from December's 8.85% rise and January's 7.47%.

In February, cereal prices rose 6.77% annually, but was down from the 7.33% gro...