Wholesale inflation falls to 3.07% in April, vegetable prices soar
New Delhi: Whole price inflation (WPI) for the month of April fell 3.07% (provisional) as against 3.17% in the month of March and 3.62% in the same period last year, government data showed on Tuesday. But despite the fall in overall WPI numbers, food prices continued to rise in April as well.
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. Meanwhile, inflation in food articles basket was 7.37%, up from 5.68% in the previous month.
Inflation in ‘fuel and power’ category fell to 3.84%, from 5.41% in March. Manufactured items too saw easing of prices with inflation at 1.72 per cent in April, against 2.16 per cent in March.
It may be noted that retail inflation for the month of April inched-up to a six-month high of 2.92% mainly due to a spike in food prices, including vegetables, meat, fish and eggs, data released on Monday showed.
The Monetary Policy Committee headed by the RBI Governor, factors in retail inflation while taking a decision on policy rates. In the previous two policy meetings in April and February, RBI had cut repo rate by 25 basis points each.
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. But if food prices continue to move north then RBI may pause its rate cut cycle. The Monetary Policy Committee headed by the RBI Governor would be meeting early June for second monetary policy review for the fiscal.
