Inflation drops to 2.06 percent on cheaper food, fuel items

New Delhi, Mar 16: The wholesale inflation dipped to (-)2.06 per cent in February as prices of food articles, manufactured items and fuel products fell during the month. This is the fourth month in a row that WPI-based inflation remained in the negative zone.

The wholesale price based inflation was (-)0.39 per cent in January. It was 5.03 per cent in February last year. While inflation in onions, pulses and protein-rich items like egg, meat and fish inched upwards, vegetables, fruits and milk saw the rate of price rise decline during the month.

Inflation in food articles category stood at 7.74 per cent, and that in manufactured products category was 0.33 per cent, according to official data released today.

Inflation in vegetables stood at 15.54 per cent in February, lower than 19.74 per cent in the previous month. Potato saw the rate of price rise decline to (-)3.56 per cent as against 2.11 per cent in January. Inflation in fuel and power segment declined to (-)14.72 per cent in February as against (-)10.69 per cent in previous month.

The December WPI inflation data has been revised downwards to (-)0.50 per cent as against 0.11 per cent provisional estimate. The WPI inflation numbers would be taken into account by the Reserve Bank for formulating its next monetary policy announcement, scheduled on April 7. The RBI had lowered policy rates by 0.50 per cent between January-March to prop up growth as it saw inflationary pressure easing.

PTI