The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tracks consumer inflation primarily while formulating its monetary policy.
Wholesale inflation stood at 0.33 per cent in September, government data showed on Monday. Determined by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), wholesale inflation had stood at 1.08 per cent in August, and 5.22 per cent in September 2018, the data showed. The WPI gauges the rate of increase in wholesale prices.
In the manufacturing products category, which has a weightage of 64.23 per cent on the WPI, wholesale inflation stood at 0.1 per cent. In fuel & power, deflation – or negative inflation – stood at 0.5 per cent last month, the data showed.
Deflation in primary articles, which includes items such as fruits, vegetables, wheat, meat and milk, was at 0.6 per cent. Primary articles have a weightage of 22.62 per cent on the wholesale inflation index.
The WPI Food index – comprising food articles from the primary articles group and food products from the manufactured products category – increased to 5.98 per cent last month, from 5.75 per cent in August.
Prasanta Patnaik