Onion prices continue to bite, inflation rises to 6.46%
New Delhi, October 14, 2013: Skyrocketing onion and vegetable prices and costlier staples such as
rice pushed India’s wholesale inflation to 6.46% in September from 6.10%
in August, data released on Monday showed. The spike in wholesale inflation has largely been driven by high food
prices, which grew at 18.40% in September compared to 18.18% in August .
Wholesale onion prices grew by 322.94% during September on the back of
244.62% in the previous month, while on country-wide basis wholesale vegetable prices grew 89.37% in
September, up from 77.81% in August. The government had hoped food prices will start falling on the back of a
good monsoon this year, but cyclone Phailin, which left a trail of destruction along the eastern coast, could wreck a fertile rice-growing
belt, where the main summer crop is at a ripening stage. The damage could shave off 1% of India’s total rice output, according to
one official’s estimates. This could push up prices of rice even further.
Wholesale rice prices grew 18.76% in September. A dip in cereal and vegetables output pumelled by unseasonal floods in
the plains of Bihar and Jharkhand, could further stoke India’s food inflation.
Andhra Pradesh and Odisha – two states to be most severely hit – contribute 12% and 7% to the country’s total rice output.
High inflation means the Reserve Bank of India, which will present its
mid-quarter credit policy review later this month, could hesitate to cut
interest rates, a step needed to boost economic growth. So, your EMIs are unlikely to fall even as rising prices continue to eat away larger
chunks of household incomes and slow economic growth pushes back hopes of decent salary increases. Source: Hindustan Times
WPI inflation rises to 5-month high of 5.79% in July
New Delhi, August, 2013: Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) rose to
5.79 percent in July compared to 4.86 percent in June due to rising food
prices and costlier imports on account of continuous depreciation in rupee against the US dollar.
During the corresponding month of the previous year WPI inflation was at
7.52 percent. Headline inflation in the food articles category climbed for the third
consecutive month to double digits at 11.91% as against 9.74% in June.
Onion prices went up by 145 percent during the month on an annual basis.
Reacting to the WPI number for July, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman
Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that the inflation will remain in range of 5
to 6 percent by March 2014. Data released on Monday, however, showed retail inflation eased to 9.64
percent in July from 9.87 percent in the preceding month as prices of cereal, pulses, fruits and sugar softened.
RBI keeps a close watch on the inflation data to decide its monetary policy.
However, in its first quarter monetary policy in the previous month, RBI
had kept its key policy rates unchanged to stablise the rupee and contain the escalating current account deficit.
Besides, the industry for long has been demanding for a cut in the key policy rate by the RBI to thrust investment and spur economic activities.
Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 3.12 percent compared to 2.98 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year.
A global sell-off has made the Indian rupee the worst-performing emerging Asian currency so far in 2013.
It hit an all-time low of 61.80 per dollar last week and is down almost 10 percent against the dollar so far this year.
India is also one of the largest importers of crude oil and a pick up in
prices through last month coupled with the weak currency added to wholesale prices, which just a few months ago had fallen to below 5 percent.
Source: zeenews
Inflation rises to 4.86% in June
July 15, 2013 (PTI):
Inflation rose to 4.86 per cent in June , driven mainly by rising prices
of food articles, especially vegetables including onions.
Inflation based on the Wholesale Price index was 4.70%in
May, In June 2012 it was 7.58%. Accoding to official data eleased on
Monday, WPI inflation in the food articles category rose to 9.74%,
driven mainly by price rise in onion. INFLATION IN ON ONION SHOT
UP BY 114% IN JUNE. Vegetable prices too went up by 16,47%
during the month, from 4.85 per cent in the privious month.
The RBI is expected to announce its first quarterly policy on June
30.
Inflation hits 41-month low in April at 4.89 per cent
May 14, 2013 (Reuters):
India's headline inflation fell below 5 per cent in April, putting it
back in the Reserve Bank's comfort zone for the first time in more than
three years and fuelling market hopes for more monetary easing to revive
the economy's pedestrian growth rate. April's reading of 4.89 per cent
was the lowest since November 2009 and well below the 5.50 per cent
estimated by analysts in a Reuters poll. The wholesale price index,
India's main inflation measure, rose an annual 5.96 per cent in March.
The number sparked gains in bond markets, which had already
rallied since last week on expectations that easing inflation would lead
the RBI to cut interest rates further. "It is a frenzy. The market
is pricing in a rate cut," said Ashish Vaidya, head of treasury at
UBS in Mumbai. Inflation was mainly cooled by a moderation in food and
fuel costs along with ebbing demand-driven price pressures. Food
inflation dropped to 6.08 per cent in April from 8.73 per cent a month
ago. Fuel prices rose 8.84 per cent on the year compared with an annual
rise of 10.18 per cent in March. Non-food manufacturing inflation,
which the central bank monitors to gauge demand-driven price pressures,
slowed to 2.77 per cent in April from 3.5 per cent a month ago.
"With food prices expected to remain stable,
manufacturing prices weak due to slow growth and commodity prices
stable, inflation is expected to be on a broad downtrend for the next
six months and this, we believe, opens up room for more rate cuts,"
said Rahul Bajoria, Regional Economist at Barclays Capital in Singapore.
"We think there is a possibility of as much as 75 basis points more
rate cuts in the next six months, including 25 basis points in the next
policy in June." . Source: Reuters
Retail inflation rises to 10.91% in February
NEW DELHI, March 13, 2013: Retail inflation moved up for
the fifth consecutive month to 10.91 per cent in February -- remaining in the double-digit terrain for third month in a row -- on account of
higher prices of vegetables, edible oil, cereals and protein-based items.
It was 10.79 per cent in January. The inflation crossed the doubled digit mark in December at 10.56 per cent, against 9.90 per cent in November.
The vegetables basket in February recorded the highest inflation of 21.29 per cent among all the constituents that make the Consumer Price
Index (CPI), according to data released today.
That was followed by cereals wherein inflation was 17.04 per cent. Egg,
meat and fish became costlier by 15.72 per cent during the month. Inflation in oils and fats segment stood at 14.56 per cent.
Besides, pulses became dearer by 12.39 per cent and sugar turned more expensive by 12.10 per cent on an annual basis.
Clothing and footwear witnessed 10.87 per cent increase in prices during the month.
In urban areas, retail inflation rose to 10.84 per cent in February from
10.73 per cent in the previous month. The CPI for rural population increased to 11.01 per cent during the month from 10.88 per cent in January.
The data for wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation is expected on Thursday. The WPI figures for January stood at 6.62 per cent, much
higher than RBI's comfort level of 5-6 per cent. Source: The Times of India
India's consumer price inflation rises to 10.79 percent
New Delhi, February 12,2013 (IANS): Inflation based on the consumer price index
(CPI) rose to 10.79 percent in January as compared to 10.56 percent in the previous month, on account of a sharp increase in prices of
vegetables, sugar and oils and fats government data showed Tuesday. Vegetables became costlier by 26.11 percent. Sugar became costlier by
12.95 percent year-on-year. Prices of oil and fats surged by 14.98 percent and cereals became
costlier by 14.90 percent. Prices of pulses jumped by 12.76 percent. The price rise was sharper in rural areas. The Consumer Price
Index-based inflation for rural areas increased 10.88 percent in January as compared to 10.74 percent in the previous month.
However, for urban areas consumer price inflation grew by 10.73 percent
in the month under review as compared to 10.42 percent in the previous month.
Vegetables became costlier by 25.35 percent year-on-year in rural areas while in urban areas the increase was 27.81 percent.
Prices of oils and fats increased by 16.03 percent in rural areas while it increased by 12.82 percent in urban areas.
Sugar prices increased by 13.13% in rural areas, while it increased by 12.40% in urban areas.
The wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation had moderated to a three-year low of 7.18 percent in December on the softening in the price
rise of fuel and manufactured goods.The WPI-based inflation, the country's main indicator of price rise, was
at 7.24 percent in November and 7.74 percent in corresponding month of previous year. This was the lowest rate of inflation since December 2009.
The WPI data for January is expected Thursday. Inflation has remained at an elevated level despite a tight monetary
policy adopted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its monetary policy last month had
slashed key interest rates by 25 basis points and released Rs.18,000 crore additional liquidity into the system.
The apex bank had forecast the March-end WPI inflation at 6.8 percent.
In another development, India's industrial output contracted 0.6 percent
in December 2012, dragged by deceleration in production in mining and manufacturing sectors. In the corresponding month of 2011, this had
registered a growth of 2.7 percent. |
|