FX.co ★ India Wholesale Price Inflation Eases To 3.85%, Lowest In 25 Months

India's wholesale price inflation softened further in February to the lowest level in just over two years amid a continued slowdown in prices in a wide range of categories, provisional data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry revealed on Tuesday.

The wholesale price index, or WPI, rose 3.85 percent year-over-year in February, slower than the 4.73 percent rise in January. Economists had expected inflation to ease to 4.00 percent.

Further, the rate of inflation remained below the 5.0 percent mark for the third straight time in February, and at the slowest pace since January 2021.

The slowdown in inflation was contributed by a fall in the prices of crude petroleum and natural gas, non-food articles, food products, minerals, computers, electronic and optical products, chemicals and chemical products, electrical equipment and motor vehicles, trailers & semitrailers, the ministry said.

The annual price growth in fuel and power eased from 15.15 percent in January to 14.82 percent in February.

Prices for primary articles grew 3.28 percent in February versus a 3.88 percent gain in the prior month. Similarly, the yearly price growth in manufactured products moderated to 2.76 percent from 2.95 percent.

On a monthly basis, wholesale prices edged up 0.2 percent from January, when they increased by 0.1 percent.