WPI: Wholesale Inflation Eases To 1% In March

For the month of March, wholesale inflation determined by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) by 1 percent, easing from 2.26 percent in February, as per official data released by the government on Wednesday. Wholesale prices were cooled off by a decline in food prices compared to the previous month.

In March 2019, WPI stool at 3.10 percent.

"Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 1.00% compared to a build up rate of 3.10% in the corresponding period of the previous year," the government said.

In its statement released on Wednesday, the Ministry of Commerce also said that due to the outbreak of Coronavirus and Nationwide lockdown, the provisional figures of WPI for March are computed with low response rate. "The figures are likely to be revised in a significant manner during the release of the final month," it said.

According to the data, the wholesale food inflation stood at 4.91 percent in March against 7.79 percent in February. In the vegetable category, wholesale inflation declined to 11.90 percent in March from 29.97 percent the previous month. Inflation in prices of onion stood high at 112.31 percent in the month of review.

Recently released data on CPI (consumer price index) showed that retail inflation also eased to 5.91 percent for March reflecting weak demand due to the lockdown.