Wholesale inflation rises to 3.18% in March

New Delhi, April 15 

Wholesale price inflation rose to a three-month high of 3.18% in March on costlier food and fuel, government data released today showed.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was at 2.93% and 2.76% in February and January this year, respectively, and 3.46% in December 2018. It was 2.74% in March last year.

Inflation in the ‘food articles’ basket hardened to 5.68% during March 2019 as against 4.28% in February, as prices of vegetables skyrocketed.

Vegetable inflation was at 28.13% in March, up from 6.82% in the previous month. However, inflation in potato cooled substantially to 1.30%, from 23.40% in February.

Pulses and wheat witnessed some cooling in inflation at 10.63% and 10.13%, respectively. Also protein-rich items such as egg, meat and fish saw inflation fall to 5.86% during March.

Deflation in onion was 31.34%, while the same in fruits was 7.62% during the month.

Wholesale inflation in the ‘fuel and power’ category, however, spiked to 5.41%, from 2.23% in February.

Inflation in diesel prices shot up to 7.33% during the month from 3.72% in February. In petrol, inflation was 1.78% in March, as against a deflation of 2.93% in the previous month.

The RBI, which mainly factors in retail inflation for monetary policy decision, had earlier this month cut interest rates by 0.25 per cent to 6 per cent, while projecting retail inflation to be at 2.9-3 per cent, mainly due to lower food and fuel prices as well as normal monsoon.

Data released last week showed retail inflation accelerated to 2.86% in March from 2.57% a month ago. — PTI