India Wholesale Price Inflation Eases More Than Forecast

(RTTNews) - India's wholesale price inflation eased for the fourth consecutive month in September, and at a faster-than-expected pace, provisional data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry revealed on Friday.

The wholesale price index climbed 10.70 percent year-over-year in September, slower than the 12.41 rise in August. Economists had expected inflation to ease to 11.50 percent.

Nonetheless, the rate of inflation remained a two-digit figure for the eighteenth successive month in September.

The overall inflation was primarily driven by a 32.61 percent surge in fuel and power prices, just below the 33.67 percent jump in August.

Prices for primary articles grew 11.73 percent and those for manufactured products gained 6.34 percent.

Data also showed that inflation based on food prices eased to 8.08 percent in September from 9.93 percent in August, and costs for non-food articles logged an annual growth of 4.71 percent.

On a monthly basis, wholesale prices dropped 0.65 percent in September, after a 0.58 percent decline in the prior month. This was the third successive monthly fall.

Data released on Wednesday showed that consumer price inflation rose to a five-month high of 7.41 percent in September from 7.00 percent in August, driven by soaring food prices, and remained above the Reserve Bank's 6.0 percent upper tolerance limit.