April WPI inflation at 4.89%, lowest level since Nov '09

Moneycontrol Bureau

The wholesale price index (WPI) in April rose 4.89 percent, at its slowest pace since November 2009. The number is way below the CNBC-TV18 poll, which had expected wholesale prices to have risen an annual 5.4 percent in April.

The wholesale price index, India's main inflation measure, rose an annual 5.96 percent in March.

As per official data released today, WPI inflation in the manufactured items category declined to 3.41 per cent in April from 4.07 per cent in March.

Also, inflation in food articles category, which has a 14.34 per cent share in the WPI basket, came down to 6.08 per cent. Inflation in this category was at 8.73 per cent in March.

The easing in food inflation was helped by a sharp drop in prices of vegetables. Inflation in vegetables stood at (-)9.05 per cent in April, against (-)0.95 per cent in the previous month.

The inflation in fruits declined to 0.71 per cent during the month as compared to 4.71 per cent in March.

However, the rate of price rise in onion was high at 91.69 per cent for the month of April, as against inflation rate of 94.85 per cent in the previous month.

Inflation for February was revised upwards to 7.28 per cent from 6.84 per cent as per provisional estimates.

The retail inflation, as measured by consumer price index, came down to single digit at 9.39 per cent in April after many months, indicating that inflationary expectation is on declining trend.

After the numbers came in, the benchmark 10-year bond yield dropped 4 basis points to 7.54 percent from levels.

The benchmark 5-year swap rate fell 5 bps to 6.77 percent, while the one-year rate dropped 3 bps to 7.15 percent, dealers said.

The RBI will take into account the declining inflationary trend while unveiling its mid-quarter policy review on June 17.

(With inputs from agencies)