October’s wholesale price index-based inflation was (-) 0.52%, which was in the negative for the seventh consecutive month due to declining food costs. As of September 2023, the WPI-based inflation rate was (-) 0.26 percent, having been in the negative since April. WPI was 8.67 percent in October of the previous year. Food item inflation decreased to 2.53% in October. In the prior month, it was 3.35 percent.
As compared to the same month the previous year, the prices of chemicals and chemical products, electricity, textiles, basic metals, food products, paper and paper products, etc., have decreased, which is the main cause of October 2023’s negative rate of inflation, the ministry of commerce and industry said on Tuesday.
In October, the inflation of the gasoline and power basket was (-) 2.47 percent, compared to (-) 3.35 percent in September. The rate of inflation for manufactured goods was (-) 1.13 percent in September compared to (-) 1.34 percent in September. According to figures released on Monday, the annual retail or consumer price inflation for October reached a 5-month low of 4.87 percent.
