WPI snaps 17-month deflationary trend, stands at 0.34% in April

After 17 consecutive months of shrinking, India's wholesale price index (WPI) has finally entered a positive zone in the month of April. India’s main inflation gauge based on monthly wholesale price index stood at 0.34 percent for the month of April, 2016 as compared to -0.85 percent  for the previous month and -2.43 percent during the corresponding month of the previous year, driven up by higher costs for food and manufactured items.  Meanwhile, the buildup inflation rate in the financial year so far was 1.37 percent compared to a build up rate of 0.17 percent 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 April, 2016 rose by 1.4 percent to 177.0 (provisional) from 174.6 (provisional) for the previous month.

Component wise, inflation in primary articles, having weight of 20.12 percent rose by 2.1 percent to 249.3 (provisional) from 244.1 (provisional) for the previous month. In the primary article index, the index for 'Food Articles' group rose by 2.0 percent to 263.8 (provisional) from 258.6 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Non-Food Articles’ group rose by 3.0 percent to 225.6 (provisional) from 219.0 (provisional) for the previous month. Furthermore, the index for ‘Minerals’ group rose by 0.6 percent to 179.5 (provisional) from 178.5 (provisional) for the previous month. Fuel & Power index having weight of 14.91% rose by 1.7 percent to 175.4 (provisional) from 172.4 (provisional) for the previous month.

Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weightage of 64.97 percent rose by 0.8 percent to 155.0 (provisional) from 153.7 (provisional) for the previous month. Among the manufactured products, the index for ‘Food Products’ group rose by 3.2 percent to 183.4 (provisional) from 177.7 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Beverages, Tobacco & Tobacco Products’ group rose by 2.9 percent to 216.2 (provisional) from 210.2 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Textiles’ group rose by 0.1 percent to 139.9 (provisional) from 139.8 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Wood & Wood Products’ group rose by 0.6 percent to 198.0 (provisional) from 196.9 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Rubber & Plastic Products’ group rose by 0.1 percent to 145.7 (provisional) from 145.6 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Chemicals & Chemical Products’ group rose by 0.3 percent to 149.9 (provisional) from 149.5 (provisional) for the previous month.

The index for ‘Non-Metallic Mineral Products’ group rose by 0.6 percent to 179.3 (provisional) from 178.3 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Basic Metals, Alloys & Metal Products’ group rose by 0.5 percent to 153.9 (provisional) from 153.1 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Machinery & Machine Tools’ group rose by 0.1 percent to 135.0 (provisional) from 134.9 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Transport, Equipment & Parts’ group rose by 0.1 percent to 139.1 (provisional) from 139.0 (provisional) for the previous month. However, the index for ‘Paper & Paper Products’ group declined by 0.5 percent to 155.3 (provisional) from 156.1 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Leather & Leather Products’ group declined by 0.2 percent to 145.7 (provisional) from 146.0 (provisional) for the previous month.

For the month of February, 2016, the final Wholesale Price Index for ‘All Commodities’ (Base: 2004-05=100) stood at 174.1 as compared to 174.0 (provisional) and annual rate of inflation based on final index stood at -0.85 percent as compared to -0.91 percent (provisional) respectively.