India’s wholesale price inflation (WPI) fell to a three-month low of 1.89 percent in November, driven by a sharp drop in food and vegetable prices, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday. This is a decrease from 2.36 percent in October and is in sharp contrast to the 0.39 percent recorded in November last year.
Food inflation eased to 8.63 percent in November from 13.54 percent last month, mainly due to lower prices of vegetables, which fell to 28.57 percent from 63.04 percent in October. Notably, onion prices fell by 2.85 percent.
In the fuel and energy sector, deflation deepened slightly to 5.83 percent in November, compared to 5.79 percent in October. Meanwhile, inflation in manufactured goods rose to 2 percent from 1.50 percent last month, reflecting rising prices in categories such as food products, textiles, and machinery.
The Ministry said that the positive rate of inflation in November was driven by higher prices of food and other manufactured goods.
The WPI trend is in line with retail inflation, which fell within the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) target band of 5.48 percent in November, down from 6.21 percent. The RBI recently kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 percent for the 11th consecutive time, adopting a neutral stance.
Declining core and retail inflation has raised hopes of a policy rate cut at the RBI’s next review in February, signaling potential relief for businesses and consumers alike.
