New Delhi, Sep 17 (FN Bureau) India’s wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation eased to a four-month low of 1.31 pc in August 2024 from 2.04% in the previous month, as per official data released on Tuesday. “The annual rate of inflation based on all India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) numbers is 1.31% (provisional) for the month of August 2024 (over August 2023). The positive rate of inflation in August 2024 is primarily due to the increase in prices of food articles, processed food products, other manufacturing, the manufacture of textiles, and the manufacture of machinery and equipment, etc.,” said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in a press release.
The month-over-month change in WPI for the month of August 2024 stood at (-) 0.45% as compared to July 2024. “The WPI inflation eased to a four-month low of 1.3% in August 2024, with the fuel and power, core (non-food manufacturing), and crude petroleum and natural gas sub-groups together pulling down the headline WPI print by as much as 70 bps (basis points) in the month vis-à-vis July 2024,” said Rahul Agrawal, Senior Economist at research and rating firm ICRA. Agrawal further said that global commodity prices have remained benign through September 2024 so far, which is likely to contain the sequential momentum in the non-food WPI. “Additionally, the price of the Indian basket of crude oil has averaged 6.0% lower in September 2024 on a sequential basis, while touching the lowest levels in 33 months, which would also help contain the uptick in the headline WPI inflation print in the month,” said the economist.