February WPI up to 2.93% on costlier food (2nd Lead)

Higher food prices accelerated India's annual rate of inflation based on wholesale prices to 2.93 per cent in February from 2.74 per cent reported for the corresponding month of 2018, official data showed on Thursday.

Even on a sequential basis, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data for February, furnished by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, showed that wholesale prices rose on a faster rate compared to 2.76 per cent growth reported for January 2019.

"The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at 2.93 per cent (provisional) for the month of February 2019 (over February 2018) as compared to 2.76 per cent (provisional) for the previous month and 2.74 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year," the Ministry said in its review of "Index Numbers of Wholesale Price in India" for February.

"Build-up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 2.75 per cent compared to a build-up rate of 2.56 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year."

On a year-on-year basis, the expenses on primary articles, which constitute 22.62 per cent of the WPI's total weightage, rose to 4.84 per cent from 0.79 per cent.

Similarly, prices of food articles increased on a faster rate. The category has a weightage of 15.26 per cent in the WPI index. It increased 4.28 per cent from a rise of 0.95 per cent.

However, onion prices deflated (-) 58 per cent, whereas potatoes became dearer 23.40 per cent.

The overall vegetable prices in February rose 6.82 per cent against a rise of 15.26 per cent in the year-ago month.

In addition, the cost of fuel and power, which commands a 13.15 per cent weightage, increased at a slower pace of 2.23 per cent from a growth of 4.55 per cent.

The expenses on manufactured products registered a rise of 2.25 per cent from 3.31 per cent.

On Tuesday, another key macro data showed that India's inflation had fallen.

In February, the retail inflation slipped to 2.57 per cent from 4.44 per cent in a year-ago period. On sequential basis, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in February (2.57 per cent) was higher than January's retail inflation rate of 1.97 per cent.

--IANS

rv/nir