India Wholesale Price Inflation Rises To 2.38%

(RTTNews) - India's wholesale price inflation increased somewhat in February after easing in the previous month, provisional data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry revealed on Monday.

The wholesale price index, or WPI, rose 2.38 percent year-over-year in February, following a 2.31 percent increase in January. Economists had expected inflation to rise to 2.36 percent.

The annual price growth in manufactured products accelerated to 2.86 percent from 2.51 percent. The decline in fuel and power costs eased to 0.71 percent from 2.78 percent. These were mostly contributed to the rise in overall inflation.

Meanwhile, prices for primary articles grew at a slower pace of 2.81 percent in February versus a 4.69 percent gain in the prior month. Similarly, the yearly price growth in the food items softened to 5.94 percent from 7.47 percent.

On a monthly basis, wholesale prices edged up 0.06 percent from January, when they decreased by 0.64 percent.

Data released last week showed that India's consumer price inflation slowed to a seven-month low in February as food price growth hit the lowest in nearly two years, raising expectations of interest rate cuts over the coming months.