India Wholesale Prices Fall For Sixth Month

(RTTNews) - India's wholesale prices continued to decline in September, defying economists' expectations for an increase, data published by the National Statistical Office showed on Monday.

The wholesale price index, or WPI, dropped 0.26 percent year-over-year in September, slower than the 0.52 percent decrease in August. Meanwhile, economists had expected a 0.5 percent rise.

The overall downward trend was primarily due to the fall in prices of chemical and mineral products, mineral oils, textiles, basic metals, and food products, the ministry said.

Costs for fuel and power dropped 3.35 percent in September from last year, versus a 6.03 percent fall a month ago. Data showed that prices for manufactured products continued to slide by 1.34 percent.

At the same time, food prices rose 1.54 percent from last year, but the pace of decline eased notably from 5.62 percent in August. Similarly, prices of primary articles grew at a weaker rate of 3.70 percent.

On a monthly basis, wholesale prices decreased by 0.59 percent in September, in contrast to a 0.20 percent gain in the prior month.

Data released last week showed that India's consumer price inflation softened to 5.02 percent in September from 6.83 percent in August.

Further, inflation came back to the central bank's tolerance band of 2-6 percent for the first time in three months.