Mainly driven by food and primary articles, data released by the commerce ministry on April 15 showed, India's wholesale inflation rate quickened to three-month high of 0.53 percent in February.
If we look at the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation, it stood at 0.2% in February and 1.34% in the month of March 2023. Furthermore, food prices also saw an upsurge of 4.65 percent if we compare with an increase of 4.09% in February. The WPI data came into light days after when the statistics ministry stated that India's retail inflation saw a decrease to a 10-month low of 4.85 percent in March.
Overshooting the Reserve Bank of India's medium-term target of 4 percent for 54 months in a row, the headline retail inflation rate has remained high. In addition, from 4.49 percent in February 2024, the annual rate of inflation for Primary Articles of WPI increased slightly to 4.51 percent in March 2024.
If we look at the annual rate of inflation for Fuel & Power of WPI, it saw an increase of (-) 0.77 percent in March 2024 if we compare it to (-) 1.59 percent in February 2024.
And as compared to (-) 1.27 percent in February 2024, furthermore, the annual rate of inflation of the Manufactured Products group of WPI increased to (-) 0.85 percent in March 2024.
The fiscal year ended on March 31, the wholesale inflation index fell 0.7 percent versus a 9.41 percent rise a year ago.
