WPI inflation slips to 3.07% in April

Wholesale price-based inflation slipped to 3.07% in April on cheaper fuel and manufactured items, even as prices of food articles remained high, according to an official data released on May 14.

The Wholesale Price Index- (WPI-) based inflation was at 3.18% in March. It was 3.62% in April 2018.

Inflation in food articles hardened with steep rise in prices of vegetables during April.

Vegetables inflation was at 40.65% in April, up from 28.13% in the previous month.

Inflation in food articles basket was 7.37%, up from 5.68% in the previous month.

Inflation in ‘fuel and power’ category cooled to 3.84%, from 5.41% in March. Manufactured items too saw easing of prices with inflation at 1.72% in April, against 2.16%



in March.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which mainly factors in retail inflation for monetary policy decision, had last month cut interest rate by 0.25 percentage points.

Retail inflation inched up to a six-month high of 2.92% in April due to a spike in food prices, including vegetables, meat, fish and eggs, data released on Monday showed.

For April-September period, the RBI has projected retail inflation at 2.9-3%, mainly due to lower food and fuel prices as well as expectation of a normal monsoon.

The Monetary Policy Committee headed by the RBI Governor would be meeting early June for second monetary policy review for the fiscal.