India's wholesale inflation dips to lowest in six months

The annual rate of wholesale price inflation (WPI) decelerated further to its lowest in six months at (-)2.65 percent for April from (-)2.33 percent for the month before, providing more room for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ease its monetary policy stance.

The annual rate of inflation based on WPI was 5.5 percent in April 2014. According to the official data, the country's retail inflation based on consumer prices index (CPI) was also on a downswing in April this year, declining by 40 basis points to 4.87 percent.

The data on official WPI released by the commerce and industry ministry showed, the decline in the annual inflation rate was thanks mainly to a fall of 28.65 percent in the prices of minerals and 13.03 percent in that for fuels.

Under food articles, the price of potatoes was as much as 41.14 percent lower in April this year over the like month of the previous year. Similarly, the decline was 1.32 percent for vegetables and a marginal 0.04 percent in rice.

But onions were dearer by 29.97 percent, pulses by 15.38 percent, fruits by 14.22 percent and milk by 7.42 percent. As a result, the index for food articles gained 5.73 percent.

The easing of global crude oil prices also had a significant impact on prices of petroleum fuels, diesel contracting by 14.39 percent, petrol by 18.44 percent and cooking gas by 6.06 percent.

The index for manufactured products was also down 0.52 percent April over April.