The Hindu Business Line : Inflation rate falls further to 5.42 pc

THE annual wholesale price index-based inflation fell to a 33-week low of 5.42 per cent during the week ended January 15, from 5.6 per cent recorded in the previous week.

The fall in the point-to-point inflation index was mainly on account of a dip in prices of essential items like vegetables, fruits, tea, edible oil and naphtha.

During the latest recorded week, the WPI remained unchanged at the previous week's level of 188.6. The Primary Articles' index declined to 185.5 points during the week, from 185.9 in the previous week as prices for food items dipped by 0.3 per cent and for non-food items by 0.1 per cent.

The Manufactured Products Group index rose by 0.1 per cent to 167.5 points, due to costlier food products, non-metallic minerals, basic metals and machinery, though prices fell for textiles, chemicals and transport parts.

The index for fuel, power, light and lubricants group dipped marginally to 288 due to a 1 per cent fall in naphtha prices, although furnace oil became costlier by 1 per cent.

Among the Primary Articles' group, the index for food articles dipped to 183.9 due to lower prices of tea (4 per cent), eggs and vegetables (3 per cent), arhar, fruits, jowar, ragi, moong, condiments and spices (1 per cent each).

But prices of bajra, barley, urad and gram rose by 1 per cent. The non-food articles' group index fell marginally to 182.1 owing to lower prices of raw silk (5 per cent), copra, rape and mustard seeds, fodder and raw cotton (1 per cent each). However, safflower was costlier by 2 per cent, while raw tobacco and sunflower rose by 1 per cent each.

In case of the Manufactured Products' group, the food products' group index rose by 0.2 per cent to 177.5 due to higher prices of sugar, oil cakes (1 per cent each).

The textiles group index declined by 0.2 per cent to 133 due to lower prices of polyester staple fibre (two per cent) and other cotton yarn (one per cent). The index for chemicals and chemical products' group fell by 0.1 per cent to 183.3 owing to lower prices of PVC resins and purified terephthalic acid (8 per cent each). But prices rose for endosulfan (2 per cent) and monocrotophos (1 per cent).

Cement prices increased marginally pushing up non-metallic mineral products' group index by 0.1 per cent to 156.6. The basic metals alloys and metal products' group index rose marginally to 206.5 due to rise in prices of aluminium extrusion and steel sheets, plates and strips (3 per cent each). The machinery and machine tools' group index rose by 0.1 per cent to 142.6 points due to higher prices of enamelled copper wires and electric motors (4 per cent each). A one per cent fall in prices of other automobile spare parts pushed down the transport equipment and parts group index to 155.6.

The Government also revised downwards the WPI index for the week ended November 20 to 189.9 points, from the provisional figure of 190.1 points. Inflation stood corrected at 7.23 per cent, as against the provisional figure of 7.34 per cent.

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