Dec WPI inflation eases to 5-month low 6.16%

The WPI-based inflation cooled-off to 6.16 percent in December aided by lower vegetable prices. The benchmark inflation yardstick fell to a five-month low from a 14-month high of 7.52 percent witnessed in November and and 7.31 percent seen in the corresponding month of the previous year. But higher core inflation remains a worry.

Food articles, non food articles and minerals group  declined by 6.4 percent, 0.4 percent and 3.1 percent respectively in the previous month. The fuel and power index rose by  0.8 percent due to higher price of electricity and LPG.

The headline inflation number that followed a noticiable improvement in CPI based inflation gave economists enough reason to believe that by March 31, the Reserve Bank of India will cut repo rates by 25 basis points.

Meanwhile, October headline inflation was revised to 7.24 percent from 7.0 percent.