India’s wholesale price index (WPI) inflation cooled to 1% for the month of March 2020 as compared to 2.26% for the previous month and 3.10% during the corresponding month of the previous year, on account of sharp fall in food prices in the country. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 1.00% compared to a build up rate of 3.10% in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Component wise, primary articles index having weight of 22.62%, declined by 2.5% to 139.5 (provisional) from 143.1 (provisional) for the previous month. Among the primary articles, the index for 'Food Articles' group declined by 2.1% to 151.6 (provisional) from 154.9 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Non-Food Articles' group declined by 4.2% to 126.1 (provisional) from 131.6 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas' group declined by 6.6% to 81.3 (provisional) from 87.0 (provisional) for the previous month, while the index for 'Minerals' group rose by 4.2% to 153.8 (provisional) from 147.6 (provisional) for the previous month.
Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, declined by 3.1% to 100.7 (provisional) from 103.9 (provisional) for the previous month.
Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, remained unchanged at its previous month level of 118.7. Among these, the index for ‘Manufacture of Food Products’ remained unchanged to its previous level of 136.9, the index for 'Manufacture of Textiles' group declined by 0.1% to 116.6 (provisional) from 116.7 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Chemicals and Chemical Products' group declined by 0.2% to 115.8 (provisional) from 116.0 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Basic Metals' group declined by 0.4% to 106.6 (provisional) from 107.0 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Computer, Electronic and Optical Products' group declined by 0.2% to 109.3 (provisional) from 109.5 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for 'Manufacture of Machinery and Equipment' group declined by 0.4% to 112.9 (provisional) from 113.4 (provisional) for the previous month.
On the flip side, the index for 'Manufacture of Tobacco Products' group rose by 0.4% to 154.8 (provisional) from 154.2 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Wearing Apparel' group rose by 0.1% to 138.0 (provisional) from 137.8 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Leather and Related Products' group rose by 0.1% to 117.9 (provisional) from 117.8 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Wood and of Products of Wood and Cork ' group rose by 0.2% to 133.0 (provisional) from 132.7 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Paper and Paper Products' group rose by 0.3% to 120.3 (provisional) from 120.0 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for 'Printing and Reproduction of Recorded Media ' group rose by 1.2% to 153.3 (provisional) from 151.5 (provisional) for the previous month.
Further, the index for 'Manufacture of Pharmaceuticals, Medicinal Chemical and Botanical Products' group rose by 0.2% to 130.6 (provisional) from 130.3 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Other Non-Metallic Mineral Products' group rose by 0.2% to 116.5 (provisional) from 116.3 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Fabricated Metal Products, Except Machinery and Equipment' group rose by 0.1% to 114.7 (provisional) from 114.6 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Electrical Equipment' group rose by 0.9% to 111.7 (provisional) from 110.7 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Motor Vehicles, Trailers and Semi-Trailers' group rose by 0.5% to 115.4 (provisional) from 114.8 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Furniture' group rose by 2.1% to 130.9 (provisional) from 128.2 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for 'Other Manufacturing' group rose by 0.5% to 117.6 (provisional) from 117.0 (provisional) for the previous month.
