India’s wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation came at 0.27 per cent for the month of January 2024 as against 0.73 per cent month-on-month, stated provisional data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Positive rate of inflation in January 2024, it added, is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, machinery & equipment, other manufacturing, minerals, other transport equipment, etc. A Reuters poll had estimated the index would rise 0.53 per cent.
The WPI inflation was at a nine-month high of 0.73 per cent in December 2023, and at 0.26 per cent in November 2023. The average WPI inflation for 2023-24 as a whole had remained in the deflationary zone at -1.1 per cent.
The month-on-month change in WPI index for January witnessed a contraction of -0.33 per cent from a contraction of -1.12 per cent in the preceding month.
Inflation for food articles, the release stated, stood at 6.85 per cent in January. For the primary articles segment, the inflation rate declined to 3.84 per cent as against 4.06 per cent in January 2023. The fuel and power inflation contracted to -0.51 per cent and manufactured products inflation was at -1.13 per cent in January.
Among food articles, wheat inflation was at -3.14 per cent in January while pulses was at 16.06 per cent and vegetables inflation rose to 19.71 per cent. January WPI inflation for milk was at 5.38 per cent. Among non-food articles, wholesale inflation in crude petroleum and natural gas eased 0.20 per cent and crude petroleum inflation stood at 4.13 per cent.
Earlier this week, India’s retail inflation moderated to a three-month low of 5.1 per cent in January due to a drop in prices of several items in the food basket — mainly onions, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed. The Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation came in at 5.69 per cent in December 2023 and 6.52 per cent in January 2023.
