WPI inflation softens to 2.84% in January

Aided by fall in food, vegetable and Minerals prices, India's inflation on wholesale level softened for the second consecutive month in January 2018. This fall is in line with trend seen in January CPI inflation. According to the latest data released by the government, the wholesale price inflation (WPI) stood at 2.84 percent (provisional) in January as against 3.58 percent (provisional) for the previous month and 4.26 percent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 2.30 percent compared to a build up rate of 4.55 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year. However, prices of some manufactured items such as wood and rubber products moved up in January compared to December. 

Component wise, primary articles index having weight of 22.62%, dropped 1.5 percent to 129.7 (provisional) from 131.7 (provisional) for the previous month. Among the primary articles, the index for ‘Food Articles’ group slipped 2.4 percent to 140.6 (provisional) from 144.1 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Minerals’ group declined by 0.3 percent to 121.9 (provisional) from 122.3 (provisional) for the previous month. On the other hand, the index for ‘Non-Food Articles’ group rose by 1.4 percent to 120.7 (provisional) from 119.0 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas’ group increased by 0.3 percent to 78.3 (provisional) from 78.1 (provisional) for the previous month.

Fuel & Power index having weight of 13.15%, was up by 0.4 percent to 96.9 (provisional) from 96.5 (provisional) for the previous month.

Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23% moved up by 0.6 percent to 114.7 (provisional) from 114.0 (provisional) for the previous month. The index for ‘Manufacture of Beverages’ group rose by 0.2 percent to 119.9 (provisional) from 119.7 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Leather and Related Products’ group up by 0.3 percent to 120.7 (provisional) from 120.3 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Wood and of Products of Wood and Cork’ group increased by 0.4 percent to 130.8 (provisional) from 130.3 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Paper and Paper Products’ group soared 2.5 percent to 121.4 (provisional) from 118.4 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Printing and Reproduction of Recorded Media’ group rose by 0.6 percent to 144.6 (provisional) from 143.7 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Manufacture of Chemicals and Chemical Products’ group rose by 0.9 percent to 113.8 (provisional) from 112.8 (provisional) for the previous month.

Besides, the index for ‘Manufacture of Rubber and Plastics Products’ group was up by 0.3 percent to 107.8 (provisional) from 107.5 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of other Non-Metallic Mineral Products’ group surged 2.2 percent to 114.0 (provisional) from 111.6 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Basic Metals’ group increased by 3.7 percent to 105.8 (provisional) from 102.0 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Fabricated Metal Products, Except Machinery and Equipment’ group jumped 0.9 percent to 111.9 (provisional) from 110.9 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Computer, Electronic and Optical Products’ group rose by 0.3 percent to 111.0 (provisional) from 110.7 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Electrical Equipment’ group was up by 0.1 percent to 110.1 (provisional) from 110.0 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Motor Vehicles, Trailers and Semi-Trailers’ group rose by 0.4 percent to 110.7 (provisional) from 110.3 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of other Transport Equipment’ group zoomed 1.0 percent to 111.7 (provisional) from 110.6 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Manufacture of Furniture’ group was up by 0.5 percent to 120.7 (provisional) from 120.1 (provisional) for the previous month.

On the flip side, the index for ‘Manufacture of Food Products’ group declined by 0.5 percent to 126.8 (provisional) from 127.4 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Tobacco Products’ group was down by 0.5 percent to 151.3 (provisional) from 152.1 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Wearing Apparel’ group decreased by 0.3 percent to 138.5 (provisional) from 138.9 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Pharmaceuticals, Medicinal Chemical and Botanical Products’ group fell 1.1 percent to 121.7 (provisional) from 123.1 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Machinery and Equipment’ group declined by 1.0 percent to 108.1 (provisional) from 109.2 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Other Manufacturing’ group was down by 6.7 percent to 104.2 (provisional) from 111.7 (provisional) for the previous month.