India's Wholesale Price Inflation Turns Negative For The First Time In Three Years In April

In April, India's wholesale-price base inflation (WPI) turned negative after almost three years, owing to a decrease in overall prices.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry reported a fall of -0.92 per cent in WPI inflation, a significant drop from the preceding month's 1.34 per cent rise and last year's 15.38 per cent surge.

This is the first negative WPI inflation since July 2020. WPI inflation in the country has been consistently decreasing for 11 months since reaching a 20-year high of 16.63 per cent in May 2022.

Food inflation decreased from 5.48 per cent in March to 3.54 per cent in April, while fuel and power index surged from 8.96 per cent to 0.93 per cent.

The inflation rate of manufactured goods was -2.42 per cent, down from 0.77 per cent in March.

In April, the Commerce Ministry reported a decline in inflation rate caused by the decrease in prices of basic metals, food products, mineral oils, textiles, non-food articles, chemical and chemical products, rubber and plastic products, and paper and paper products.

India's retail inflation in April was within the Reserve Bank of India's tolerance range, at an 18-month low of 4.7 per cent.