The wholesale price index based inflation continued to remain in the negative zone at -4.54 per cent in September 2015, but edged up marginally from -4.95 per cent in August.
Retail inflation for September too rose marginally to 4.41 per cent from 3.36 per cent in August.
With WPI inflation in negative for the 11th straight month, the Finance Ministry is worried about deflationary trends. The wholesale inflation was 2.38 per cent in September 2014.
Official data released on Wednesday revealed that the mild rise in wholesale inflation last month was on the back of costlier food articles including pulses, vegetables and onions. Wholesale inflation in food articles rose to 0.69 per cent in September from -1.13 per cent in August. Wholesale inflation in onions rose to 113.7 per cent, while for pulses it was 38.56 per cent. For vegetables it rose to -9.45 per cent.
WPI inflation in fuel and power group dipped further to -17.71 per cent in September from -16.5 per cent in August, while for manufactured products it was partially up at -1.73 per cent in September as against -1.92 per cent a month ago.
“WPI will definitely be in the negative territory in October and November. After December, we expect it to gradually inch up,” said Indranil Pan, Chief Economist, IDFC Bank, adding that the WPI reading is not going to have any significant relevance to the RBI’s monetary policy stance. Industry body Assocham raised concerns over deflationary trends but also said the government must keep a watch on food prices. “The Central and State governments need to take proactive steps to contain any further rise in prices of essential commodities,” said Rana Kapoor, President, Assocham.