India's wholesale inflation dips to lowest in six months

New Delhi, May 14: The annual rate of wholesale price inflation (WPI) decelerated further to its lowest in six months at (-)2.65 per cent for April from (-)2.33 per cent for the month before, providing more room for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ease its monetary policy stance.

The annual rate of inflation based on WPI was 5.5 percent in April 2014. According to the official data, the country's retail inflation based on consumer prices index (CPI) was also on a downswing in April this year, declining by 40 basis points to 4.87 percent.

The data on official WPI released by the commerce and industry ministry showed, the decline in the annual inflation rate was thanks mainly to a fall of 28.65 per cent in the prices of minerals and 13.03 per cent in that for fuels.

Under food articles, the price of potatoes was as much as 41.14 percent lower in April this year over the like month of the previous year. Similarly, the decline was 1.32 percent for vegetables and a marginal 0.04 per cent in rice.

But onions were dearer by 29.97 per cent, pulses by 15.38 per cent, fruits by 14.22 per cent and milk by 7.42 per cent. As a result, the index for food articles gained 5.73 per cent.

The easing of global crude oil prices also had a significant impact on prices of petroleum fuels, diesel contracting by 14.39 per cent, petrol by 18.44 per cent and cooking gas by 6.06 per cent.

The index for manufactured products was also down 0.52 per cent April over April.

IANS