WPI inflation remains flat at -0.91% in February

Wholesale price index (WPI) remained in deflation zone for the sixteenth month in a row. The WPI inflation for the month of February come in at -0.91 percent, compared with January's -0.90 percent and -2.17 percent during the corresponding month of 2015, driven down by decline in oil prices. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far stood at -1.19% compared to a build up rate of -2.61% in the corresponding period of the previous year.

As per the data released by the government, the WPI for ‘All Commodities’ (Base: 2004-05=100) for the month of February, 2016 declined by 1.0 percent to 174.0 (provisional) from 175.7 (provisional) for the previous month. The reading which has been in the negative zone since November 2014 was mainly on the back of higher prices of onions, vegetables and pulses

Component wise, inflation in primary articles, having weight of 20.12%, declined by 3.4 percent to 244.7 (provisional) from 253.3 (provisional) of the previous month. In the primary article index, the index for 'Food Articles' group declined by 3.2 percent to 259.1 (provisional) from 267.6 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Non-Food Articles’ group declined by 2.9 percent to 217.9 (provisional) from 224.5 (provisional). Further, the index for ‘Minerals’ group declined by 8.1 percent to 183.0 (provisional) from 199.2 (provisional). Fuel & Power index having weight of 14.91%, declined by 1.2 percent to  169.6 (provisional) from 171.6  (provisional) for the previous month.

Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weightage of 64.97% rose by 0.3 percent to 153.1 (provisional) from 152.7 (provisional) for the previous month. Among the manufactured products, the index for ‘Food Products’ group rose by 0.8 percent to 178.1 (provisional) from 176.7 (provisional). The index for ‘Beverages, Tobacco & Tobacco Products’ group rose by 0.4 percent to 207.2 (provisional) from 206.4 (provisional). The index for ‘Textiles’ group rose by 0.1 percent to 139.6 (provisional) from 139.4 (provisional). The index for ‘Wood & Wood Products’ group rose by 0.3 percent to 195.9 (provisional) from 195.3 (provisional). The index for ‘Leather & Leather Products’ group rose by 0.3 percent to 145.2 (provisional) from 144.8 (provisional). The index for ‘Basic Metals, Alloys & Metal Products’ group rose by 0.5 percent to 150.4 (provisional) from 149.6 (provisional). The index for ‘Machinery & Machine Tools’ group rose by 0.1 percent to 135.1 (provisional) from 134.9 (provisional) for the previous month.

However, the index for ‘Paper & Paper Products’ group declined by 0.1 percent to 155.5 (provisional) from 155.7 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Rubber & Plastic Products’ group declined by 0.1 percent to 145.0 (provisional) from 145.2 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Chemicals & Chemical Products’ group declined by 0.1 percent to 149.5 (provisional) from 149.7 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Non-Metallic Mineral Products’ group declined by 0.5 percent to 177.7 (provisional) from 178.6 (provisional) for the previous month.

For the month of December, 2015, the final Wholesale Price Index for ‘All Commodities’ (Base: 2004-05=100) stood at 176.8 as compared to 177.4 (provisional) and annual rate of inflation based on final index stood at -1.06 percent as compared to -0.73 percent (provisional) respectively.