Wholesale inflation in January eases to 0.27%, against 0.72% in Dec 2023

WPI inflation: The wholesale inflation for January stood at 0.27 per cent, against 0.72 per cent witnessed in December 2023. The positive rate of inflation was largely driven by the increase in prices of food articles, machinery and equipment, other manufacturing, minerals, and other transport equipment, the government data released on Wednesday showed. 

The wholesale food inflation moderated from 5.39 per cent in December to 3.79 per cent in January. The all commodities inflation stood at -0.33 per cent, against  -0.98 per cent in December. 

“Some of the important groups that showed month-over-month increases in prices are machinery & equipment; textiles; beverages; motor vehicles, trailers & semi-trailers; rubber & plastics products etc,” the government release stated. 

The core inflation which means inflation excluding volatile products such as food and fuel stood at -1 per cent in January against -0.6 per cent in December. 

The wholesale inflation for the major group of primary articles declined by 1.04 per cent in January from 182.9 to 181.0, witnessing a decline from 5.78 per cent in December to 3.84 per cent. The fuel inflation stood at -0.51 per cent in January against -2.41 per cent in December. The primary articles have a weightage of 22..62 per cent. 

According to the release, some of the groups that witnessed a decrease in prices are food products; basic metals; other manufacturing; chemicals and chemical products; other non-metallic mineral products etc. in January 2024 as compared to December 2023.

On the other hand, onion inflation stood at 29.18 per cent in January against 91.77 per cent in December.