New Delhi: Wholesale inflation slipped to about three-and-a-half-year low of 0.16% in October on account of a decline in prices of manufactured goods though food products remained dearer, government data showed on Thursday.
The previous low was in June 2016 when the Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was a negative 0.1%. In September this year, the WPI-based inflation was at 0.33%, while it stood at 5.54% in October 2018.
"The sequential dip in the WPI inflation in October 2019 was led by core items, fuel and power, minerals, and crude petroleum and natural gas, whereas inflation for primary food and non-food articles, and manufactured food products recorded an uptick," said Aditi Nayar, economist at ICRA.
Rahul Gupta, currency research head, Emkay Global Financial Services, said, "The data in wholesale prices signals that there is still lack of demand in segments such as manufacturing, metals, and chemical products.
The continued weakness in WPI along with slowing growth will induce the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) to cut repo rate again in December."
