India's wholesale prices fell for an 11th straight month in September, plunging an annual 4.54% primarily on the back of tumbling oil prices, government data showed on Wednesday. The wholesale fuel prices fell 17.71% from a year ago. Prices of manufactured goods declined 1.73% on year in September.
Food prices, however, inched up 0.69% year-on-year in September.
The Wholesale Price Index-based inflation has been in the negative zone since November. In September 2014, inflation was 2.38%. Inflation in food articles inched up to 0.69 per cent in September, from (-)1.13% in August.
Onion and pulses turned costlier with inflation at 113.70% and 38.56% respectively during September, as per official data released on Wednesday. The rate of price rise in vegetables was at (-)9.45% as against (-)21.21% in August.
Inflation rate in fuel and power segment was (-)17.71%, while that in manufactured products was (-)1.73% in September. Besides pulses and onion, the food items which became dearer in September were eggs, meat and fish (2.02%), milk (2.16%) and wheat (3.34%).
However, potato inflation was low at (-)57.34%. The inflation data for July has been revised to (-)4.0%, as compared to provisional estimates of (-)4.05%.
The Reserve Bank mostly tracks the Consumer Price Index-based inflation for its monetary policy decisions. The CPI or retail inflation for September rose to 4.41%, from 3.74% in September. The rise in retail inflation as well as the marginal upward movement of wholesale inflation is unlikely to have a bearing on the monetary policy of RBI. The central bank has signalled that it would wait for sometime before cutting interest rates.
In September, RBI had reduced interest rates by more than expected 0.50% and said it expects CPI inflation to reach 5.8% in January 2016.
(Inputs from Reuters and PTI)
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