WPI dips to single digit in Oct at 19-month low

NEW DELHI: The wholesale price index-based inflation dipped to a 19-month low of 8.39 per cent in October on easing prices of food, fuel and manufactured items.

Declining for the fifth consecutive month, WPI inflation cooled to single digit after a gap of one-and-a-half years, giving some comfort to the Reserve Bank of India which has been struggling to rein in price rise.

Releasing the WPI inflation data on Monday, the commerce ministry said: “The decline in October inflation is primarily contributed by fall in the price of mineral oils, basic metals, fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment; textiles; other non-metallic mineral products; minerals etc.”

Since April 2021, WPI inflation remained in double digits for 18 months with September print at 10.79%. The earlier single-digit WPI inflation was in March 2021 at 7.89%.