India’s wholesale inflation up to 3.24% in August

The Commerce Ministry said, the annual rate of WPI inflation in July was at 1.88 per cent, while it was at 1.09 per cent during August 2016. “The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at 3.24 per cent (provisional) for the month of August, 2017 (over August, 2016) as compared to 1.88 pc (provisional) for the previous month and 1.09 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year,” the Ministry said in the “Index Numbers of Wholesale Price in India” for August. 

“Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 1.41 per cent compared to a build up rate of 3.25 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.” Wholesale prices had accelerated in July to 1.88 per cent from June’s rise of 0.90 per cent and an increase of 2.26 per cent reported for May. Expenses on primary articles, which constitute 22.62 per cent of the WPI’s total weightage, edged higher by 2.66 per cent from an increase of 0.46 per cent in July 2017. 

The rise in WPI prices for primary articles during the month under review was slower on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, as it had risen by 4.78 per cent in August 2016. The prices of food articles rose by 5.75 per cent from an acceleration of 2.15 per cent during July 2017 and a rise of 4.93 per cent in August 2016. In terms of food prices, the YoY wholesale inflation rate for onion was higher by 88.46 per cent, whereas for potatoes it plunged by (-) 43.82 per cent.