Wholesale price inflation eases to 2.47% in March

Annual Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation last month eased to 2.47% from a year earlier, a shade lower than a provisional 2.48% rise in February.

India’s annual wholesale price inflation slightly eased in March to 2.47%, a nine-month low, owing to a fall in prices of vegetables and other food and beverages, data from Ministry of Commerce & Industry showed on Monday.

(Wholesale food prices in March fell 0.07% year-on-year, compared with a 0.07% rise a month earlier.(AFP Photo)

“The official Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for ‘All Commodities’ for the month of March, 2018 rose by 0.2% to 116.0 (provisional) from 115.8 (provisional) for the previous month,” the notification said.

The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at 2.47% (provisional) for the month of March, 2018 (over March, 2017) as compared to 2.48% (provisional) for the previous month and 5.11% during the corresponding month of the previous year.

Inflation in food articles declined by 0.4% to 137.2, from 137.8 for the previous month due to lower price of egg, gram, tea, coffee, poultry chicken and condiments and spices, among others.

However, the price of ragi, jowar, peas, moong, betel leaves, wheat, paddy and pork moved up.

Inflation in non-food articles too declined by 0.3% to 120.2 from 120.6 for the previous month due to lower price of guar seed, niger seed, floriculture, raw cotton, cottonseed, mustard seed, among others.

However, the price of raw silk, mesta and hides, sunflower, soyabean, fodder, raw wool, coir fibre and raw rubber moved up. Meanwhile, the index for ‘Minerals’ group declined by 2% to 119.7 from 122.2 for the previous month due to lower price of copper concentrate and phosphorite.

However, the price of iron ore, chromite, manganese ore, limestone, zinc concentrate and lead concentrate moved up.

The index for ‘Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas’ group declined by 0.5% to 80.2 from 80.6 for the previous month due to lower price of crude petroleum.