According to data provided by the Commerce Ministry on Tuesday, India’s wholesale inflation, which is based on the all-India Wholesale Price Index (WPI), decreased to 3.85 % in February from 4.73 % in January. This is less than the 4% prediction made by Reuters. The data made public indicate that the decrease in the rate of inflation in February was primarily brought on by lower prices for minerals, non-food items, food products, computers, electronics, optics, chemicals and chemical products, electrical equipment, and automobiles, trailers, and semi-trailers.
“The Food Index grew from 171.2 in January 2023 to 171.3 in February 2023, consisting of “Food Items” from the Primary Articles group and “Food Product” from the Manufactured Products group. According to the WPI Food Index, the rate of inflation fell from 2.95 percent in January 2023 to 2.76 percent in February 2023, according to the commerce ministry.
The segment’s inflation rate for primary articles decreased from 3.88 percent last month to 3.28 percent. When compared to January 2023, the WPI changed by 0.20 percent from month to month in February 2023. In February 2022, the WPI-based inflation rate was 13.43%.
Crude oil and natural gas inflation dropped from 23.79 percent in January to 14.47 percent in February. Inflation for fuel and electricity fell to 14.82% from 15.15% in the previous month. Inflation for manufactured goods decreased from 2.99 percent in January to 1.94 percent in February.
The slowdown in WPI is consistent with the drop in CPI inflation that was reported on Monday. From 6.52 percent in January to 6.44 percent in February, API inflation fell. The WPI increased by 15.88% in May 2022, the most since September 1991.
