India's wholesale price inflation edges up to 8.31 per cent in February
14 Mar 2011
India's annual rate of inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) stood at 8.31 per cent (provisional) during February 2011 against 8.23 per cent (provisional) in the previous month and 9.68 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year.
The official wholesale price Index for all commodities' having its base 2004-05=100 rose 0.1 per cent to 146.0 (provisional) during the month from 145.9 (provisional) in the previous month.
Build-up of inflation so far during the financial year was 7.51 per cent against 9.42 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The index for the `primary articles' group declined 2.9 per cent to 187.8 (provisional) from 193.4 (provisional) in the previous month.
Among primary articles group, the index for the 'food articles' group declined 5.2 per cent to 180.8 (provisional) from 190.7 (provisional) in the previous month due to lower prices of fruits and vegetables (down 20 per cent), moong (down 5 per cent), condiments and spices (down 4 per cent), egg and urad (down 2 per cent each) and rice and masur (down 1 per cent each). However, the prices of jowar (up 9 per cent), arhar (up 7 per cent), fish-marine and barley (up 4 per cent each), gram and mutton (up 3 per cent each), ragi and wheat (up 2 per cent each) and milk, maize and poultry chicken (up 1 per cent each) moved up.
The index for the 'non-food articles' group rose 4.0 per cent to 185.1 (provisional) from 177.9 (provisional) during the previous month due to higher prices of castor seed (up 30 per cent), raw cotton (up 20 per cent), copra (up 13 per cent), gaur seed and sunflower (up 12 per cent each), soyabean (up 11 per cent), raw rubber (up 7 per cent), safflower (up 4 per cent), coir fibre (up 2 per cent) and fodder and groundnut seed (up 1 per cent each). However, the prices of flowers (down 36 per cent), niger seed (down 8 per cent) and mesta (down 2 per cent) declined.
