WPI inflation inches up to 3.39% in December

Breaking the three month declining trend, India’s Wholesale price index (WPI) inflation climbed higher in December 2016, due to rise in prices of manufactured items, while food articles turned cheaper. 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 December, 2016 (over December, 2015) as compared to 3.15% (provisional) for the previous month and (-) 1.06% during the corresponding month of the previous year. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 4.28% compared to a build up rate of 0.40% in the corresponding period of the previous year. The WPI inflation for October was revised upwards at 3.79 per cent against the provisional estimate of 3.39 per cent.

Primary articles index having Weight of 20.12%, witnessed a decline of 1.2 percent to 256.3 (provisional) from 259.4 (provisional) for the previous month. Among the primary articles, the index for ‘Non-Food Articles’ group increased 1.9 percent to 225.6 (provisional) from 221.4 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Minerals’ group rose 2.8 percent to 213.3 (provisional) from 207.4 (provisional) for the previous month, while the index for ‘Food Articles’ group dropped 2.2 percent to 270.1 (provisional) from 276.1 (provisional) for the previous month.

Fuel & Power index having Weight of 14.91%, rose by 0.7% to 192.1 (provisional) from 190.7 (provisional) for the previous month. 

Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.97%, increased marginally by 0.1 percent to 158.0 (provisional) from 157.9 (provisional) for the previous month. Among the items in the group, the index for ‘Beverages, Tobacco & Tobacco Products’ group rose by 0.1 percent to 221.9 (provisional) from 221.6 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Paper & Paper Products’ group rose by 0.4 percent to 157.0 (provisional) from 156.4 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Basic Metals, Alloys & Metal Products' group rose by 0.8 percent to 157.6 (provisional) from 156.3 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Machinery & Machine Tools’ group rose by 0.1 percent to 135.5 (provisional) from 135.4 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Transport, Equipment & Parts’ group rose by 0.1 percent to 140.0 (provisional) from 139.9 (provisional) for the previous month.

On the other hand, the index for 'Food Products' group declined by 0.2 percent to 193.7 (provisional) from 194.0 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Textiles’ group declined by 0.1 percent to 141.6 (provisional) from 141.8 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Wood & Wood Products’ group declined by 2.0 percent to 193.7 (provisional) from 197.6 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Leather & Leather Products’ group declined by  0.7 percent to 146.1 (provisional) from 147.1 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Chemicals & Chemical Products’ group declined by 0.1 percent to 150.7 (provisional) from 150.8 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Non-Metallic Mineral Products’ group declined by 0.3 percent to 179.3 (provisional) from 179.9 (provisional) for the previous month.