WPI inflation turns positive after 17 months; 0.34% in April

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Wholesale price-based inflation turned positive in April after remaining in negative zone for 17 straight months.

The April Wholesale Price Index-based inflation stood at 0.34 percent higher than minus 0.85 percent in March.

In April last year, it was minus 2.43 percent.

Wholesale food prices last month rose 4.23 percent year-on-year, compared with a provisional 3.73 percent gain in March. Inflation in vegetables came in at 2.21 percent compared with (-)2.26 percent in April while the same in pulses was high at 36.36 percent as against 34.45 percent.

Prices of manufactured goods increased 0.71 percent year on year in April. Fuel prices dropped 4.83 percent from a year earlier in April, slower than a provisional 8.30 percent fall a month ago.

Last week the government data showed a rise in retail inflation for the month of April at 5.39 percent versus 4.83 percent in the previous month.