WPI inflation eases to 6-month low of 2.84% in January

New Delhi: Inflation based on wholesale prices eased to a six-month low of 2.84 percent in January on cheaper food articles even as vegetable prices continued to rule high.

Calculated on the basis of Wholesale Price Index (WPI), the inflation was 3.58 percent in December 2017 and 4.26 percent in January 2017.

WPI inflation at 2.84 percent in January is the lowest in six months. The previous low level was recorded in July at 1.88 percent.

According to the government data released today, inflation on food articles slowed to 3 percent in January, from 4.72 percent in December 2017.

Inflation in vegetables witnessed some softening with annual inflation at 40.77 percent in January as against 56.46 percent in the previous month. Kitchen staple onion witnessed a whopping 193.89 percent price rise in January.

Pulses witnessed deflation at 30.43 percent, and the same for wheat and cereals was 6.94 percent and 1.98 percent respectively.

Prices of protein rich items eggs, meat and fish cooled by 0.37 percent while that of fruits rose 8.49 percent in January.

In the fuel and power segment, wholesale inflation rose to 4.08 percent in January, while it was 2.78 percent for manufactured items.

Data released earlier this week showed that retail inflation was at 5.07 percent. The Reserve Bank takes into account retail inflation while deciding on key policy rates.

In its policy review last week, the RBI had kept key interest rate unchanged and estimated retail inflation to be 5.1 pc in the January-March quarter. For April-September, RBI projected inflation to be in the range of 5.1-5.6 percent.

Meanwhile, inflation for November has been revised upwards to 4.02 percent from the provisional estimate of 3.93 percent released earlier.