India’s wholesale price inflation softened further at the start of the year to the lowest level in twenty-four months amid continued slowdown in prices for food articles, fuel and power, provisional data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry revealed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The wholesale price index, or WPI, climbed 4.73 percent year-over-year in January, slower than the 4.95 rise in December. Economists had expected inflation to ease to 5.60 percent.<\/p>\n
Further, the rate of inflation remained below the 5.0 percent mark for the second straight time in January, and at the slowest pace since early 2021.<\/p>\n
The slowdown in inflation was contributed by a fall in the price of mineral oils, chemicals and chemical products, textiles, crude petroleum and natural gas, textiles, and food products, the ministry said.<\/p>\n
The annual price growth in fuel and power eased considerably from 34.36 percent in December to 15.15 percent in January.<\/p>\n
Prices for primary articles grew 3.88 percent and those for manufactured products gained 2.99 percent.<\/p>\n
Inflation based on food prices softened notably to 2.38 percent in January from 10.40 percent in December, and costs for non-food articles logged an annual growth of 4.52 percent.<\/p>\n
On a monthly basis, wholesale prices edged up 0.13 percent in January, reversing a 1.38 percent decline in the prior month. It was the first increase in three months.<\/p>\n
Data released on Monday showed that India’s consumer price inflation rose to a three-month high of 6.52 percent in January from 5.72 percent in December. <\/p>\n
The inflation crossed the Reserve Bank of India’s target corridor of 2 to 6 percent, reflecting the influence of the hawkish policy stance made by the monetary policy committee at its December meeting due to the easing trend in inflation. <\/p>\n