WPI inflation eases to 0.33% in September on fall in prices of non-food articles, fuel rates decline 7.05%

Wholesale prices based inflation eased to 0.33 percent in September, as against 1.08 percent in August due to fall in prices of non-food articles, government data showed on Monday.

#BreakingNews | September #WPI at 0.33% Vs CNBC-TV18 poll of 1.09% pic.twitter.com/3xEbM6bpOX

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) October 14, 2019

The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI), was at 5.22 percent in September 2018. The rate of price rise for the food articles was at 7.47 percent during the month, while that for non-food articles stood at 2.18 percent, showed the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. [caption id=“attachment_2342840” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Wholesale food prices in September rose 5.98 percent year-on-year, compared with a 5.75 percent increase a month earlier, while fuel prices saw a sharper fall of 7.05 percent, compared with a decline of 4 percent in August, reported Reuters. “Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 1.17 percent compared to a build-up rate of 3.96 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year,” said a statement released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. “The official WPI for all commodities for September declined by 0.1 percent to 121.3 from 121.4 for the previous month,” it said adding the index for primary articles with a weightage of 22.62 percent declined by 0.6 percent to 143 from 143.9 for the previous month. The price of fruits and vegetables and pork fell by 3 percent each, jowar, bajra and arhar by 2 percent each and fish-marine, tea and mutton by 1 percent each, reported ANI. However, the price of condiments and spices moved up by 4 percent, betel leaves and peas/chawali by 3 percent each), egg and ragi 2 percent each and rajma, wheat, barley, urad, fish-inland, beef and buffalo meat, moong, poultry chicken, paddy and maize by 1 percent each. The index for manufactured products with a weightage of 64.23 percent rose by 0.1 percent to 117.9 in September from 117.8 for the previous month. The rate of inflation based on WPI Food Index consisting of ‘Food Articles’ from primary articles group and ‘food product’ from manufactured products group increased from 5.75 percent in August 2019 to 5.98 percent in September 2019. — With inputs from agencies