Wholesale inflation fell to 1.34 percent in March

New Delhi: Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index declined to 1.34 per cent (provisional) in March 2023. The wholesale inflation in February stood at 3.85 per cent.
According to the report on Wholesale Price Index released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday, this decline in inflation was due to primary metals, food products, textiles, non-food products, minerals, rubber and plastic products, crude oil and natural gas and paper and paper. This is due to a decrease in the wholesale prices of manufactured goods. The wholesale price index (base year 2011-12) of all articles remained at 150.9 points in March 2023, equal to the previous month.

Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index in primary articles declined to 2.40 per cent from 3.28 per cent in February. WPI inflation in the fuel and power category declined to 1.96 per cent from 14.82 per cent in the previous month, and in the manufactured products category, wholesale prices declined by 0.77 per cent year-on-year as against 1.94 per cent in February. Wholesale prices of food articles were up 2.32 per cent year-on-year in March, while inflation in this category stood at 2.76 per cent in February.

The wholesale price of rice was higher by 7.54 per cent and that of wheat by 9.16 per cent in March this year as compared to the same month last year. The prices of pulses have increased by 3.03 percent on an annual basis. Milk became costlier by 8.48 per cent, while the prices of potato and onion fell by around 24 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively, in March. The prices of textile products were down by 4.93 per cent on an annual basis. Mild steel became cheaper by 4.91 per cent, while the wholesale prices of cement, lime and plaster registered an annual increase of 6.32 per cent on an average.