February wholesale inflation down marginally at 2.48%

Wholesale price-indexed (WPI) inflation in India softened during February marginally at 2.48 per cent from 2.84 per cent in the previous month, primarily due to lower fuel and food prices, official data showed on Wednesday.

According to a Commerce Ministry release, the WPI inflation in February 2017 was more than double at 5.1 per cent.

Wednesday's wholesale inflation data follows the retail inflation figures for February released earlier this week, which showed a slight cooling in the consumer price-indexed (CPI) inflation at 4.4 per cent on the back of lower food and fuel prices. Retail inflation had climbed over 5 per cent in January.

On a sequential basis, the expenses during the month in consideration on primary articles, which constitute 22.62 per cent of the WPI's total weightage, rose marginally by 0.79 per cent, from an increase of 2.37 per cent in January 2018.

Among primary articles, food, which has a weightage of 15.26 per cent in the index, edged up last month by 0.88 per cent from an acceleration of three per cent reported for January.

The cost of fuel and power, which commands a 13.15 per cent weightage in the index, increased at a slower pace of 3.81 per cent during the month, from a growth of 4.08 per cent in January.

However, expenses on manufactured products in the month under review registered a rise of 3.04 per cent, from 2.78 per cent in January.

Onion prices in February soared higher by 118.95 per cent and potatoes by 11.67 per cent.

The overall vegetable prices in February rose by 11.67 per cent, against a higher increase of 40.77 per cent in the previous month.

Fuel-wise, prices in February of both high-speed diesel and petrol climbed higher than in the previous month, by 7.41 per cent and 2.52 per cent, respectively. However, LPG rose lower at 8.5 per cent.

--IANS

bc/nir/bg