New Delhi: Wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation accelerated to 1.26 per cent in April on an annual basis, as against 0.53 per cent in March, said the provisional data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. The April WPI came at a 13-month high, and is above the Reuters estimates which showed that WPI inflation was expected at 1 per cent.
The ministry said that the positive rate of inflation in April 2024 is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, electricity, crude petroleum & natural gas, manufacture of food products, other manufacturing, etc.
The month over month change in WPI index for the month of April stood at 0.79 per cent as compared to March.
Inflation for food articles, according to the release, stood at 7.74 per cent in April as against 6.88 per cent in March. For the primary articles, the inflation rate came in at 5.01 per cent from 4.51 per cent in March. The fuel and power inflation was at 1.38 per cent in April as compared to -0.77 per cent in March. Further, manufactured products inflation stood at -0.42 per cent in April.
In food articles, inflation in vegetables was 23.60 per cent. Wheat inflation during the month of April was at 5.69 per cent as against 7.43 per cent in March, while pulses was at 16.58 per cent. Milk inflation stood at 4.30 per cent from 4.73 per cent in March. Eggs, Meat & Fish inflation came in at 0.88 per cent in April. Potato and onion posted a major surge in inflation at 71.97 per cent and 59.75 per cent respectively.
The non-food articles reported wholesale inflation at -4.41 per cent. Crude Petroleum & Natural gas reported wholesale inflation for the month of April at 4.97 per cent from 4.87 per cent in March and crude petroleum was at 6.52 per cent.
Earlier, India’s retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell to an 11-month low of 4.83 per cent year-on-year in April from 4.85 per cent in March, mainly due to a higher deflation in fuel and light and lower core inflation.
