Rise in oil prices may add to inflation woes: India Inc

As inflation based on wholesale prices rose to 3.18 per cent in April, India Inc today said the cascading impact of rising crude oil prices would be one of the key worry areas for India's economy going forward.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation stood at 2.47 per cent in March and 3.85 per cent in April last year.

Assocham said the break down of the April inflation data shows annualised inflation of close to 10 per cent for petrol and over 13 per cent for high speed diesel.

Even more worrying is the fact that these levels are on a very high base in the same month last fiscal. Going forward, increasing crude oil prices and their cascading impact would be one of the key worry areas for Indian economy, Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.

PHD Chamber of Commerce President Anil Khaitan termed the rise in inflation worrisome and hoped that prices do not increase further in the coming months.

According to government data released today, inflation in food articles was at 0.87 per cent in April 2018, as against a deflation of 0.29 per cent in the preceding month.

Deflation in vegetables was 0.89 per cent in April, while in the previous month it was 2.70 per cent.

Inflation in 'fuel and power' basket rose sharply to 7.85 per cent in April from 4.70 per cent in March as prices of domestic fuel increased in line with rising global crude oil rates.