WPI inflation at 29-month low; down 1.34% in March versus 3.85% in February

Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation stood at 1.34 per cent in March 2023 versus 3.85 per cent in February 2023. WPI inflation stood at 4.80 per cent in January 2023, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry release stated. The WPI inflation hit a 29-month-low in March. 

The release further read, “Decline in the rate of inflation in March 2023 is primarily contributed by fall in prices of basic metals, food products, textiles, non-food articles, minerals, rubber and plastic products, crude petroleum and natural gas and paper and paper products.”

The rate of inflation based on WPI food index eased from 2.76 per cent in February this year to 2.32 per cent in March. It was 2.95 per cent in January. In the primary articles segment, inflation eased from 3.28 per cent in February 2023 to 2.40 per cent in March this year. In the fuel and power segment, WPI inflation went down from 14.82 per cent in February to 8.96 per cent in March this year. 

The WPI inflation measures the price of a basket of wholesale goods in India. It is divided into three groups– manufactured products (64.2 per cent), primary articles (22.6 per cent of total weight), and fuel and power (13.2 per cent of total weight). 

Meanwhile, India’s retail inflation or consumer price index-based inflation (CPI) hit a 15-month low at 5.66 per cent in March versus 6.44 per cent in February. India’s factory output, based on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose by 5.6 per cent in February versus 5.2 per cent in January. 

The RBI pegged CPI inflation at 5.2 per cent for FY2023-24, 5.1 per cent in Q1, 5.4 per cent in Q2, 5.4 per cent in Q3, and 5.2 per cent in Q4 in its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) outcome announced earlier this month. 

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