New Delhi: Wholesale price-based inflation declined for the second consecutive month to its 23-month low of 2.02% in June, helped by the decline in prices of vegetables as well as fuel and power items, according to official data released on Monday.
The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was at 2.45% in May. It was 5.68% in June, 2018.
Inflation in the food articles basket eased marginally to 6.98% in June, from 6.99% in May.
Vegetable inflation softened to 24.76% in June, down from 33.15% in the previous month. Inflation in potato prices were (-) 24.27%, against (-) 23.36% in May.
However, onion prices continued the rising trend with inflation at 16.63% during the month, as against 15.89% in May.
WPI inflation in June is the lowest in 23 months since July 2017, when it was at 1.88%.
Inflation in the ‘fuel and power’ category cooled substantially to (-)2.20%, from 0.98% last month. Manufactured items too saw a decline in prices with inflation at 0.94% in June, against 1.28% in May.
WPI inflation data for April has been revised upwards to 3.24% from provisional 3.07%.
Data released earlier this week showed that retail inflation spiked to a six-month high of 3.18% in June, on costlier food items.
The Reserve Bank, which mainly factors in retail inflation for monetary policy decisions, lowered its benchmark lending rate to nearly a nine-year low of 5.75% on June 6, even as it upped its inflation projection to 3-3.1% for the first half of 2019-20.
Flagging uncertain monsoons, unseasonal spikes in vegetable prices, crude oil prices, financial market volatility and fiscal scenario as risks to inflation, the RBI projected an upward bias in food inflation in the near term.