WPI inflation rises to 3.74% in August

India’s Wholesale price index (WPI) inflation rose to 3.74% month-on-month in August, as prices of manufactured items increased, while food inflation softened. For the month of June, 2016, the final Wholesale Price Index stood at 182.9 as compared to 182.0 (provisional) and annual rate of inflation based on final index stood at 2.12 percent as compared to 1.62 percent (provisional).

As per the data of Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at 3.74% (provisional) for the month of August, 2016, as compared to 3.55% (provisional) for the previous month and -5.06% during the corresponding month of the previous year. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 4.45% compared to a build up rate of 0.23% in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 20.12%, witnessed a decline of 0.2% to 268.9 (provisional) from 269.5 (provisional) for the previous month. Among the primary articles, the index for ‘Food Articles’ group declined by 0.6% to 284.2 (provisional) from 285.8  (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Non-Food Articles’ group dropped by 0.1% to 236.3 (provisional) from 236.6 (provisional) for the previous month. On other hand, the index for ‘Minerals’ group rose by 3.5% to 216.3 (provisional) from 208.9 (provisional) for the previous month.

Fuel & Power index having weight of 14.91% decreased by 3.0% to 182.2 (provisional) from 187.9 (provisional) for the previous month due to lower price of  high speed diesel.

Manufactured Products index having weight of 64.97% increased by 0.2% to 156.7 (provisional) from 156.4 (provisional) for the previous month. Among the items in the group, the index for ‘Food Products’ rose by 1.1% to 191.3 (provisional) from 189.2 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Beverages, Tobacco & Tobacco Products’ group rose by 0.5% to 221.9 (provisional) from 220.7 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Textiles’ group rose by 0.4% to 142.1 (provisional) from 141.5 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Wood & Wood Products’ group rose by 0.8% to 197.6 (provisional) from 196.1 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Paper & Paper Products’ group rose by 0.2% to 157.0 (provisional) from 156.7 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Rubber & Plastic Products’ group rose by 0.8% to 147.6 (provisional) from 146.5 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Chemicals & Chemical Products’ group rose by 0.1% to 151.2 (provisional) from 151.1 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Non-Metallic Mineral Products’ group rose by 0.5% to 179.5 (provisional) from 178.6 (provisional) for the previous month, while the index for ‘Leather & Leather Products’ group declined by 0.1% to 146.1 (provisional) from 146.3 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Basic Metals, Alloys & Metal Products’ group declined by 0.7% to 151.9 (provisional) from 153.0 (provisional) for the previous month.