WPI dips marginally to 0.16 pc in October due to subdued non-food prices

The annual rate of inflation based on the monthly wholesale price index (WPI) dipped marginally and stood at 0.16 per cent for October as compared to 0.33 per cent for the previous month, government data showed on Thursday.

The fall was mainly due to subdued prices of non-food articles and fall in prices of manufactured items. "The official WPI for all commodities for October 2019 rose by 0.7 per cent to 122.2 (provisional) from 121.3 for the previous month," according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

"The annual rate of inflation based on monthly WPI stood at 0.16 per cent for October 2019 (over October 2018) as compared to 0.33 per cent for the previous month and 5.54 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Build-up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 1.92 per cent compared to a build-up rate of 4.9 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year."

The figures showed inflation for manufactured items at minus 0.84 per cent in October compared to minus 0.42 per cent in September. The rate of price rise for food articles was at 9.8 per cent during the month, while for non-food articles it stood at 2.35 per cent,

Meanwhile, retail inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) touched a 16-month high as it rose to 4.62 per cent in October, up from 3.99 per cent in September. That breached the Reserve Bank of India's medium-term target of 4 per cent in October for the first time in 15 months.