Retail Inflation at 18-month low, IIP growth declines, WPI Inflation dips to 34-month low
Apr 3, 2023 | 2023(May), Blog
15th May, 2023
Retail inflation
India’s retail inflation based on the consumer price index decreased to 4.7% in April from 5.66% in the previous month. This is the lowest inflation rate in 18 months and falls within the Reserve Bank of India‘s acceptable range of 2-6% for the second consecutive month. This also signals further rate hike pauses or rate cuts from RBI’s front with inflation below its upper target. A large part of decline in household prices was led by declining food prices. The consumer food price index (CFPI) comes at 3.84% in April 2023. Further inflation rate in food & Beverages stood at 4.22% while clothing & footwear inflation was at 7.47%. Also, housing inflation was at 4.91% in April, while fuel and light inflation came in at 5.52%. Miscellaneous inflation stood at 4.92%. WPI Inflation India’s wholesale inflation rate eased to 34-month low of (-) 0.92% in April on easing prices of food, fuel & manufactured items. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation has been on a declining trend for 11 months in a row & entered the negative zone in April. WPI inflation was 1.34% in march & 15.38% in April last year. “Decline in the rate of inflation in April, 2023 is primarily contributed by fall in prices of basic metals, food products, mineral oils, textiles, non-food articles, chemical & chemical products, rubber & plastic product, rubber & plastic products and paper & paper products,” the commerce and industry ministry said.
Industrial Production
According to the government data released, India’s industrial production growth fell to a five month low of 1.1% in March 2023. It had risen 5.6% in February. For the FY23 fiscal, it had risen 5.1 per cent, data showed, as against a growth of 11.4 per cent in 2021-22. The poor performance of the power and manufacturing sectors was primarily responsible for this decline, with the manufacturing sector growing only 0.5% compared to 1.4% a year ago. Power generation declined by 1.6% in March 2023, compared to a growth of 6.1% last year. Mining output rose 6.8% during the month under review. Data released late April had shown that The combined index of eight core industries (ICI) increased by 3.6 per cent in March 2023 over the corresponding period of last year.
