India’s wholesale inflation inflation eases to 4.73 per cent

According to government data, the decline is primarily contributed by mineral oils, chemicals and chemical products, textiles, crude petroleum and natural gas, textiles, and food products.

New Delhi, Feb 14: The Wholesale inflation (WPI) in India has dropped further as it has declined to 4.73 per cent (provisional) in January 2023, against the previous month's 4.95 per cent, according to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry on Tuesday.

The decline in the rate of inflation in January is primarily contributed by mineral oils, chemicals and chemical products, textiles, crude petroleum and natural gas, textiles, and food products, the statement said.

The overall wholesale inflation was at 8.39 and has been falling since then.

The index for fuel and power group (with an overall weightage of 13.15 per cent) declined by 1.39 per cent to 155.8 in January, data showed. Notably, the wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation had been in double digits for 18 months in a row till September.

In December, the wholesale price-based inflation declined to 4.95 per cent in December 2022, mainly due to fall in prices of food articles and crude petroleum.

On the other hand, retail inflation again breached RBI's upper tolerance band in the month of January 2023, with the Consumer Price Index at 6.52 per cent, government data released on Monday showed. The retail inflation in rural and urban India was 6.85 per cent and 6.00 per cent, respectively. Among groups, cereals and products, eggs, spices, among others, contributed to the elevation in retail inflation in January.

Meanwhile, India's retail inflation in January 2023 rose to 6.52 per cent on costly food items and fuel, according to the latest official data released on Monday.

The inflation rate based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 5.72 per cent December and 6.01 per cent in January 2022.

Inflation rate for the food basket was at 5.94 per cent in January, up from 4.19 per cent in December.

The previous high was 6.77 per cent in October.