Comments
The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation fell to 4.64 per cent in November 2018 from a level of 5.28 per cent in October, official data showed.
Food and fuel prices dropped, leading to a moderation in inflation on a sequential basis, said economists. Aditi Nayar, Principal Economist, ICRA, said the easing of WPI inflation in November was led by deeper disinflation in the prices of primary food articles, easing of inflation related to crude petroleum and mineral oils following the correction in retail fuel prices, and some impact of the appreciation in the rupee on the landed price of imports.
Primary food items recorded a year-on-year disinflation for the fifth month in a row, which is a cause for concern. The year-on-year disinflation in primary food items in November 2018 was driven by vegetables, fruits and pulses.
Rajni Thakur, Economist, RBL Bank, said the drop in WPI to 4.6 per cent was in line with the bank’s expectations. While food and fuel prices have evidently come off, manufactured products inflation stays in the 4.5-5 per cent range and indicates a gentle recovery in underlying demand conditions in the economy, Thakur said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.