India's wholesale inflation rate falls to 18-month low of 10.7% in September

New Delhi, October 14, 2022

India's annual rate of inflation, based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), eased to 10.7 for September 2022 as against 12.14% recorded in the previous month.

Food inflation based on the WPI Food Index decreased from 9.93% in August, 2022 to 8.08% in September, 2022, provisional data released by the Government today said.

The Food Index, consisting of Food Articles from the Primary Articles group and Food Products from the Manufactured Products group, decreased from 176.0 in August, 2022 to 175.2 in September, 2022, a press release from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, citing the data, said.

According to the release, inflation in September, 2022 is primarily contributed by the rise in prices of mineral oils, food articles, crude petroleum & natural gas, chemicals & chemical products, basic metals, electricity, textiles and so on, as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

The month over month change in WPI index for the month of September, 2022 stood at -0.65 % as compared to August, 2022.

The index for Primary Articles, which have a weight of 22.52% in the WPI, declined by 1.34% to 176.2 in September from 178.6 in August, the provisional data showed.

Prices of Food Articles increased by 0.28% in September while the prices of non-food articles declined by 3.60%, crude petroleum & natural gas by 6.38% and minerals by 6.45%.

The index for Fuel & Power (Weight 13.15%) increased by 0.13% to 157.8 in September from 157.6 in August.

Prices of Electricity increased by 5.16%, while the prices of mineral oils declined by 1.32%.

In the case of Manufactured Products (Weight 64.23%), the index declined by 0.49% to 142.5 in September from 143.2 in August.

The increase in prices was mainly contributed by motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers; machinery and equipment; fabricated metal products except machinery and equipment; electrical equipment and computer, electronics and optical products. Some of the groups that have witnessed decrease in prices are basic metals, food products; chemicals and chemical products; textiles and other non-metallic mineral products in September, 2022 as compared to August, 2022.

The Food Index consisting of Food Articles from Primary Articles group and 'Food Products' from Manufactured Products group have decreased from 176.0 in August, 2022 to 175.2 in September, 2022.

The inflation rate for vegetables rose to 39.66 per cent in September against 22.29 per cent in August.

The release said the final index for July 2022 (Base Year: 2011-12=100) stood at 154.0 and the inflation rate for All Commodities at 14.07%.

NNN