The Hindu Business Line : Inflation rises on costlier manufactured products

THE annual wholesale price index-based inflation rose to a four-month high of 5.64 per cent during the week ended April 16 from 5.48 per cent during the previous week.

The year-on-year WPI inflation surged by 0.16 per cent mainly on account of a rise in prices of food and manufactured products, according to data released here today by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Inflation stood at 4.68 per cent during the corresponding period a year ago. During the latest reported week, the WPI was up by 0.3 per cent to 191.2 points due to an all round increase in the indices of all the major commodity groups — primary articles, fuel and manufactured products.

On a disaggregated basis, the index of Primary Articles' group rose by 0.1 per cent to 187.1 points due to costlier food and non-food products. A two per cent hike in the prices of furnace oil pushed up the Fuel, Power, Light and Lubricants' group index marginally by 0.1 per cent to 292.7 points. The Manufactured Products' group index was up by 0.5 per cent to 170 points due to costlier items including food, tobacco, textiles, papers, rubber and chemicals.

Among the Primary Articles' group, the Food Articles' group index was up 0.3 per cent to 188.3 points due to higher prices for poultry chicken (eight per cent), fish-marine and eggs (seven per cent each), maize, bajra and moong (two per cent each), and arhar and urad (one per cent each).

Prices, however, fell for tea (nine per cent), pork (two per cent) and wheat and condiments and spices (one per cent each). The index for Non-Food Articles' group was up by 0.2 per cent to 179.5 points owing to costlier soyabean and raw jute (two per cent each) and castor seed, raw wool, raw cotton, copra and mesta (one per cent each). Prices, however, fell for sunflower and niger seed (two per cent each) and rape and mustard seed (one per cent).

The Minerals' group index fell by over seven per cent to 264.9 points due to lower prices of steatite (13 per cent), vermiculite (10 per cent), iron ore (nine per cent), chromite (eight per cent), china clay (three per cent) and barytes and asbestos (one per cent each). However, prices rose for fire clay (76 per cent), ochre 17 per cent), magnesite (13 per cent), fluorite (three per cent) and lime stone (one per cent).

Among the Manufactured Products' group, the Food Products' group index was up by 0.3 per cent to 174.5 points due to costlier sunflower oil, ghee and rice bran oil (two per cent each) and gur, groundnut oil and sugar (one per cent each). There was a drop in prices of processed tea (seven per cent), khandsari (two per cent), and coconut oil and imported edible oil (one per cent each). A five per cent spurt in the prices of scented chewing tobacco pushed up the Beverages Tobacco and Tobacco Products' group index by 0.1 per cent to 221.9 points. A one per cent increase in the prices of cotton yarn-cones, polyster yarn and synthetic yarn moved up the Textiles' group index by 0.2 per cent to 131.2 points.

The index for Paper and Paper Products' group rose by 0.2 per cent to 177.5 points owing to higher prices of newsprint (two per cent) and map litho paper (one per cent). A marginal increase in the prices of decorative laminates pushed up the Rubber and Plastic Products' group index by 0.1 per cent to 134.5 points.

The Chemicals and Chemical Products' group index was up marginally to 185.9 points due to one per cent increase in the prices of ayurvedic medicine liquids, acid and caustic soda, even as polystyene became cheaper by two per cent and phenol by one per cent. A marginal increase in cement prices pushed up the Non-Metallic Mineral Products' group index by 0.3 per cent to 169.2 points.

Base Metals Alloys and Metal Products' group index was up by 2.2 per cent to 218.5 points due to costlier blooms, billets and slabs and steel and tensile plates (eight per cent each), angles, channels and sections (four per cent) and brass sheets and strips and bars and rods (one per cent each).

The index for Machinery and Machine Tools' group rose by 0.2 per cent to 145 points due to higher prices of cranes (eight per cent), boilers, its parts and accessories (four per cent). A one per cent increase in the prices of scooters and auto-rickshaws pushed up the Transport Equipment and Parts' group index by 0.1 per cent to 158.6 points.

The Government also revised upwards inflation to 4.89 per cent during the week ended February 19 as compared to provisional estimate of 4.83 per cent. WPI stood corrected at 188.9 points during the second week of February against provisional level of 188.8 points.

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