New Delhi, June 14: The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly Wholesale price-based inflation (WPI), stood at 2.45 per cent (provisional) for the month of May (over May,2018) as compared to 3.07 per cent (provisional) for the month of April .
The index for Food Articles group remained unchanged at its previous month level of 150.1 while that of Non-Food Articles' group rose by 0.9 percent to 127.8.
The index for Minerals group declined by 4.2 per cent to 138 and crude petroleum and natural gas group rose by 3.5 per cent to 92.8. The previous high was in October 2018, when the retail inflation was recorded at 3.38 per cent. The retail inflation in April 2019 was revised upwards to 2.99 per cent from the earlier 2.92 per cent. The retail inflation level during the May 2018 was recorded at 4.87 per cent. The Reserve Bank of India has set the targets of 4 per cent for the inflation rate. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) under the central bank factors in CPI-based retail inflation while finalising its monetary policy.