WPI inflation eases to three-month low in Nov as food prices cool

Food prices declined to 8.63% last month from 13.54% in October, according to government data

India’s wholesale price index (WPI) in November eased to a three-month low of 1.89 per cent as prices of food items, especially vegetables fell, government data showed on Monday. WPI was 2.36 per cent in October and stood at 0.39 per cent in November last year.

  WPI Food declined to 8.63 per cent in November from 13.54 per cent in October, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The decline was helped by a fall in vegetable prices, which stood at 28.57 per cent as against 63.04 per cent in October. Onion prices fell 2.85 per cent in November.

 

  The fuel and power category witnessed further deflation of 5.83 per cent in November, compared to 5.79 per cent in October.

In the manufactured products category, inflation increased to 2 per cent in November from 1.50 per cent in October.

 

"Positive rate of inflation in November 2024 is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, food products, other manufacturing, textiles, machinery & equipment, etc," said the ministry in a statement.

 

The retail inflation rate, which based on the consumer price index, last week fell within the tolerance band of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to 5.48 per cent in November from a 14-month high of 6.21 per cent in October, thus raising hopes of a much anticipated policy rate cut in the upcoming February review.

 

Earlier this month, the RBI, which mainly takes into account retail inflation while framing monetary policy, kept the benchmark interest rate or repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent in its monetary policy for the 11th consecutive time and maintained a ‘neutral’ stance.