Wholesale inflation eases to 2.26% in February on cheaper food articles, vegetables

New Delhi: Wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation softened to 2.26 percent in February on the back of cheaper foods and vegetables, government data showed on Monday. In January, the WPI inflation stood at 3.1 percent and in the year-ago same period, it was at 2.93 percent, as per the data from the commerce and industry ministry. The WPI inflation for food articles for February 2020 came in at 7.79 percent as against 11.51 percent in the previous month.

#WPIInflation for the month of February comes in at 2.26% against CNBC-TV18 poll of 2.34% pic.twitter.com/7qxBBofJVJ

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) March 16, 2020

The rate of price rise for onion and potato too came down to 162.30 percent and 60.73 percent, respectively as against 293.37 percent and 87.84 percent in January 2020. Build up inflation rate in the current financial year so far was 1.92 percent compared to a build-up rate of 2.75 percent in the year-ago period, it added. “The considerable decline in the WPI inflation in February 2020 is in line with our forecast, led primarily by food items, as well as a modest contribution of the correction in prices of crude oil and minerals, which would intensify in the ongoing month,” said Aditi Nayar, economist with ICRA. In contrast, the core-WPI recorded a narrower disinflation in February 2020, which is expected to reverse reflecting the growing impact of the coronavirus outbreak on prices, demand and sentiment, she added.