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India’s wholesale prices rose for the fifth straight month in August, although at a pace slower than what markets had initially anticipated. However, this was in sharp contrast to the fall in consumer prices released Monday.
India’s wholesale price index (WPI) rose 3.74 percent from a year earlier, quicker than the 3.55 percent increase in July but slightly slower than the above-4 percent increase expected by us, data released by the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed Wednesday.
Wholesale food prices last month rose 8.23 percent year-on-year, compared with a provisional 11.82 percent gain in July. WPI inflation in vegetables cooled to 0.17 percent in August, from a spike of 28.05 percent in July.
In addition, inflation in pulses continued to rule high at 34.55 percent in August, while potato, a daily consumable vegetable, saw a price rise during the month at 66.72 percent. For onions, it was at -64.19 percent. The rate of inflation in sugar was at 35.36 percent and that for fruits rose by 13.91 percent during the month.
Overall, the food inflation basket showed some moderation with inflation at 8.23 percent in August, against 11.82 percent in July. WPI inflation, which was in the negative zone from November 2014 to March 2016, has been firming up for the last five months, reports confirmed.
However, deflationary trend continued in some items such as petrol at -8.65 percent and minerals -3.44 percent. Moreover, the inflation print for manufactured articles came in at 2.42 percent in August, up from 1.82 percent in July. The WPI inflation for June has been revised upwards at 2.12 percent, against provisional estimate of 1.62 percent.
Meanwhile, India’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 5.05 percent in August from a year earlier, data released by the Ministry of Statistics showed Monday. That’s slower than the 5.2 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 35 economists and is a plunge from the previous month’s 6.07 percent rate.
