Wholesale price-based inflation eases to 10.7% in September
India’s Wholesale price-based inflation eased to 10.7% in September as against 12.41% in the previous month.
The Wholesale Price Index-based inflation was 11.80% in September last year. This year, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) touched a record high of 15.88% in May.
September is the 18th consecutive month of double-digit WPI inflation.
Also read: Retail inflation rises to 7.41% in September; Congress attacks PM, FM
“The Food Index consisting of ‘Food Articles’ from the Primary Articles group and ‘Food Product’ from the Manufactured Products group have decreased from 176.0 in August, 2022 to 175.2 in September, 2022. The rate of inflation based on WPI Food Index decreased from 9.93% in August, 2022 to 8.08% in September, 2022,” the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement on Friday (October 14).
“Inflation in September 2022 is primarily contributed by rise in prices of mineral oils, food articles, crude petroleum & natural gas, chemicals & chemical products, basic metals, electricity, textiles etc. as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year,” it added.
Inflation in food articles in September eased to 11.03%, against 12.37% in August.
Also read: IMF praises RBI for tightening the monetary policy to curb inflation
However, inflation in vegetables rose to 39.66% during the month, as against 22.29% in August.
In the fuel and power basket, inflation came in lower at 32.61% in September, against 33.67% in August.
In manufactured products and oil seeds it was 6.34% and (-) 16.55%, respectively.
The RBI mainly looks at retail inflation to frame monetary policy.
Also read: ‘Can’t blame external factors for inflation,’ Chidambaram tells govt not to give excuses
Retail inflation remained above the Reserve Bank’s upper tolerance threshold of 6% for the ninth month in a row and was at a 5-month high of 7.41% in September, as per data released earlier this week.
To tame stubbornly high inflation, the RBI has hiked the key interest rate four times this year to 5.90% – the highest since April 2019.
| Index Numbers & Annual Rate of Inflation (Y-o-Y in %)* | |||||||
| All Commodities/Major Groups | Weight (%) | Jul-22 (F) | Aug-22 (P) | Sep-22 (P) | |||
| Index | Inflation | Index | Inflation | Index | Inflation | ||
| All Commodities | 100.0 | 154.0 | 14.07 | 153.1 | 12.41 | 152.1 | 10.70 |
| I. Primary Articles | 22.6 | 177.1 | 14.78 | 178.6 | 14.93 | 176.2 | 11.73 |
| II. Fuel & Power | 13.2 | 166.6 | 44.62 | 157.6 | 33.67 | 157.8 | 32.61 |
| III. Manufactured Products | 64.2 | 143.2 | 8.24 | 143.2 | 7.51 | 142.5 | 6.34 |
| Food Index | 24.4 | 174.2 | 9.28 | 176.0 | 9.93 | 175.2 | 8.08 |
Note: P: Provisional, F: Final, *Annual rate of WPI inflation calculated over the corresponding month of previous year. Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
| Month Over Month (M-o-M in %) change in WPI Index# | |||||||
| All Commodities/Major Groups | Weight | Apr-22 | May-22 | Jun-22 | Jul-22 | Aug-22 (P) | Sep-22 (P) |
| All Commodities | 100.00 | 2.28 | 1.77 | 0.26 | -0.90 | -0.58 | -0.65 |
| I. Primary Articles | 22.62 | 2.11 | 2.29 | 1.68 | -2.42 | 0.85 | -1.34 |
| II. Fuel & Power | 13.15 | 5.07 | 8.20 | 2.14 | -0.30 | -5.40 | 0.13 |
| III. Manufactured Products | 64.23 | 1.69 | 0.21 | -0.76 | -0.49 | 0.00 | -0.49 |
| Food Index | 24.38 | 3.03 | 1.33 | 1.03 | -1.80 | 1.03 | -0.45 |
Note: P: Provisional, #Monthly rate of change, based on month over month (M-o-M) WPI calculated over the preceding month. Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry.