New Delhi: The wholesale price-based inflation declined for the fourth consecutive month to 10.7% in September on softening in prices of food, fuel and manufactured items.
The Wholesale Price Index-based inflation was 12.41% in August and 11.8% in September last year. This year, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) touched a record high of 15.88% in May.
September is the 18th consecutive month of double-digit WPI inflation.
“Inflation in September, 2022 is primarily contributed by rise in prices of mineral oils, food articles, crude petroleum & natural gas, chemicals and chemical products, basic metals, electricity, textiles etc. as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year,” an official statement said.
Inflation in food articles in September eased to 11.03%, against 12.37% in August.
However, inflation in vegetables rose to 39.66% during the month, as against 22.29% in August.
In the fuel and power basket, inflation came in lower at 32.61% in September, against 33.67% in August.
In manufactured products and oil seeds it was 6.34% and (-) 16.55%, respectively.
The RBI mainly looks at retail inflation to frame monetary policy.
Retail inflation remained above the Reserve Bank’s upper tolerance threshold of 6% for the ninth month in a row and was at a 5-month high of 7.41% in September, as per data released earlier this week.
To tame stubbornly high inflation, the RBI has hiked the key interest rate four times this year to 5.9% – the highest since April 2019.
(PTI)