India’s August wholesale inflation boosted by food, fuel

New Delhi: High food, fuel and manufactured goods’ prices accelerated India’s August wholesale inflation, official data showed on Monday.

On a sequential level, India’s annual rate of inflation based on wholesale prices rose to 0.16 percent in August from (-) 0.58 percent in July. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data furnished by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry had risen to 1.17 percent during the corresponding period of the previous year.

“The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at (0.16 percent)(Provisional) for the month of August 2020 (over August 2019) as compared to 1.17 percent during the corresponding month of the previous year,” the Ministry said in its review of ‘Index Numbers of Wholesale Price in India’ for August.

In the notes to WPI August, the ministry said: “The WPI for August 2 020, have been compiled at a weighted response rate of 76 percent, while the final figure for June 2020 is based on the weighted response rate of 88 percent.”

On a sequential basis, the expenses on primary articles, which constitute 22 .62 percent of the WPI’s total weightage, increased 1.60 percent from 0.63 percent in July 2020. Furthermore, the prices of food items remained at elevated levels with a rise of 4.07 percent from 4.32 percent reported for July. IANS