Lower fuel prices ease India's WPI to 3.80% in December

Lower fuel and manufactured products prices eased India's annual rate of inflation based on wholesale prices to 3.80 per cent in December 2018 from 4.64 per cent in November, official data showed here on Monday.

As per the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data furnished by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, December's inflation rate was higher than the rise of 3.58 per cent reported for the corresponding period of 2017.

"The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at 3.80 per cent (provisional) for the month of December, 2018 (over December, 2017) as compared to 4.64 per cent (provisional) for the previous month and 3.58 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 December.

"Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 3.27 per cent compared to a build up rate of 2.21 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year."

On a sequential basis, the expenses on primary articles, which constitute 22.62 per cent of the WPI's total weightage, rose to 2.28 per cent last month, from a rise of 0.88 per cent in November.

Similarly, the prices of food articles accelerated. The category has a weightage of 15.26 per cent in the WPI index. It deflated by (-) 0.07 per cent from (-) 3.31 per cent.

However, the cost of fuel and power segment, which commands a 13.15 per cent weightage, increased at a slower pace of 8.38 per cent from a growth of 16.28 per cent.

The expenses on manufactured products registered a rise of 3.59 per cent from 4.21 per cent.

On a YoY basis, onion prices deflated by (-) 63.83 per cent, whereas potatoes became dearer by 48.68 per cent.

In contrast, the overall vegetable prices in the month under review declined by (-) 17.55 per cent, against a rise of 56.38 per cent in the same month a year ago.

Among the non-food items, the price of high-speed diesel rose by 8.61 per cent on a YoY basis, petrol by 1.57 per cent and LPG by 6.87 per cent.

--IANS

rv/ksk/bg