Wholesale Price Index: Inflation eases to 4.53% in August; Lowest in 4 months

In July, the data stated that wholesale inflation was at a four-year high of 5.09 per and 3.24 per cent in August last year.

In July, the data stated that wholesale inflation was at a four-year high of 5.09 per and 3.24 per cent in August last year. (Image: PTI)

In a data shared by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Friday, country’ wholesale inflation stood eased at 4.53 per cent in August which was largely driven by reasonably priced food items including vegetables. The current figure is country’s lowest level of price hike rate recorded since April 2018. In July, the data stated that the wholesale inflation was at a four-year high of 5.09 per and 3.24 per cent in August last year. The government data also highlighted that the food articles registered deflation at 4.04 per cent in August 2018. Last month, deflation in this category was 2.16 per cent. The wholesale inflation rate which is calculated by Wholesale Price Index (WPI) shows the average price change of goods included in the index and is often expressed as a ratio or percentage. The change in these numbers are indicators of country's level of inflation. A data release by the government earlier this week highlighted a similar trend. It stated that the retail inflation fell to 3.69 per cent in August which was the lowest in past 10 months. This figure was also lower than Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) medium term target of 4 per cent. Among food articles, potato inflation continued to rule high at 71.89 per cent in August, while onion and fruits witnessed deflation of 26.80 per cent and 16.40 per cent, respectively, reported news agency PTI. The inflation in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was 46.08 per cent, diesel showed a dip of 19.90 whereas petrol registered inflation of 16.30 per cent. As per the data, the WPI inflation for June was revised downwards to 5.68 per cent from the provisional estimate of 5.77 per cent. On Thursday, petrol price in Delhi touched an all-time high of Rs 81 per litre whereas in Mumbai it climbed up to Rs 88.39 per litre. Diesel was price at Rs 7.08 in Delhi and in Mumbai it went to as high as 77.58 per litre.