Cheaper fuel, food cost eases Sep WPI to 0.33%

NEW DELHI: India’s wholesale inflation eased to 0.33% in September, its lowest in more than three years led by lower inflation in fuel and manufactured goods.

The previous low for wholesale
inflation as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) was 0.1% in June 2016.


It was 1.03% in August and 5.22% in September 2018.

“The sequential slide in the WPI inflation to a lower than forecast 0.3% in September 2019, while broad-based, was driven primarily by deeper disinflation in fuel and power, and core WPI,” said
Aditi Nayar, principal economist at ICRA.

Data released by the commerce and industry ministry on Monday showed inflation for manufactured items at -0.42% in September, against 0% a month ago. Overall food inflation was 7.47% in September from 7.67% in August as inflation rate for fruit dropped sharply to 6.67%.

WPI inflation rate declined in September despite onion prices rising 122.4% over the prices a year ago.

As per Nayar, the late withdrawal of the monsoon and flooding related damage to standing crops in various states need to be viewed with caution.

“We expect the wholesale food inflation to remain elevated in the immediate term. Nevertheless, unless pricing pressures re-emerge in core WPI items, the likelihood of which appears bleak at present, the headline WPI may slip into disinflation in the ongoing month,” Nayar said.

The statistics office will release retail inflation numbers for September later in the evening.