WPI inflation eases to 3.39% in October

In the second consecutive month of decline, India’s Wholesale price index (WPI) inflation softened to 3.39% in October due to easing prices of food and non-food items. As per the data of Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at 3.39% (provisional) for the month of October, 2016 (over October, 2015) as compared to 3.57% (provisional) for the previous month and (-)3.70% during the corresponding month of the previous year. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 4.34% compared to a build up rate of 0.45% in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 20.12%, witnessed a decline of 0.8% to 261.8 (provisional) from 263.9 (provisional) for the previous month. Among the primary articles, the index for ‘Food Articles’ group dropped 0.3 percent to 278.8 (provisional) from 279.6 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for 'Non-Food Articles' group declined by 3.1 percent to 223.2 (provisional) from 230.3 (provisional) for the previous month, while the index for 'Minerals' group rose by 0.2 percent to 210.9 (provisional) from 210.4 (provisional) for the previous month.

Fuel & Power index having weight of 14.91%, rose by 1.0% to 187.3 (provisional) from 185.4 (provisional) for the previous month.

Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weightage of 64.97% increased marginally by 0.2% to 157.4 (provisional) from 157.1 (provisional) for the previous month. Among the items in the group, the index for 'Food Products' group rose by 0.3 percent to 193.0 (provisional) from 192.5 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for 'Basic Metals, Alloys & Metal Products' group rose by 1.4 percent to 155.2 (provisional) from 153.0 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for 'Rubber & Plastic Products' group rose by 0.5 percent to 148.5 (provisional) from 147.8 (provisional), the index for 'Chemicals & Chemical Products' group rose by 0.1 percent to 150.7 (provisional) from 150.6 (provisional), the index for 'Non-Metallic Mineral Products' group rose by 0.4 percent to 180.2 (provisional) from 179.4 (provisional) and the index for 'Transport, Equipment & Parts' group rose by 0.1 percent to 139.9 (provisional) from 139.8 (provisional) for the previous month. On the other hand, the index for 'Textiles' group declined by 0.4 percent to 141.7 (provisional) from 142.2 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for 'Paper & Paper Products' group declined by 0.6 percent to 155.9 (provisional) from 156.8 (provisional), the index for 'Beverages, Tobacco & Tobacco Products' group declined by 0.1 percent to 221.7 (provisional) from 221.9 (provisional), the index for 'Leather & Leather Products' group declined by  0.2  percent to 145.5 (provisional) from 145.8 (provisional) and the index for 'Machinery & Machine Tools' group declined by 0.1 percent to 135.2 (provisional) from 135.3 (provisional) for the previous month.

For the month of August, 2016, the final Wholesale Price Index was revised upward to 183.3 as compared to 183.1 (provisional) and annual rate of inflation based on final index at 3.85% as compared to 3.74% (provisional) respectively.