Wholesale Price Index Inflation in India drops to -0.92%

New Delhi, May 15: India’s wholesale-price base inflation (WPI) for the first time in almost three years turned negative in April, as overall prices eased. The WPI inflation fell -0.92 percent in April, as compared to a rise of 1.34 percent in March and 15.38 percent in April last year., the Ministry of Commerce & Industry stated in a release on Monday.

 

 

 

The WPI inflation has fallen into negative for the first time since July 2020. 

 

 

 

The country’s WPI inflation has been easing continuously for the last 11 months after it jumped to a 20-year high of 16.63 percent in May last year. The inflation in food articles too eased to 3.54 percent in April, compared to 5.48 percent in March. Meanwhile, the fuel and power index jumped 0.93 percent from 8.96 percent last month. In manufactured products, the inflation rate was -2.42 percent, compared to 0.77 percent in March. The decline in the rate of inflation in April was primarily contributed by the fall in prices of basic metals, food products, mineral oils, textiles, non-food articles, chemical & chemical products, rubber & plastic products, and paper & paper products, the Commerce Ministry said.

 

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This comes after India’s retail inflation eased to an 18-month low of 4.7 percent in April, within the tolerance range of the Reserve Bank of India.