Wholesale inflation drops to minus 2.06% in February

Wholesale inflation dropped to minus 2.06 per cent in February this year, as the prices of fuel products fell during the month. This is the fourth month in a row that wholesale price index-based inflation has remained in the negative zone.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation was minus 0.39 per cent in January this year, and 5.03 per cent in February last year.

Inflation in food articles stood at 7.74 percent and in manufactured products at 0.33 percent in February, according to official data released today.

Inflation in the fuel and power segment declined to minus 14.72 per cent in February, from minus 10.69 per cent in January. The December WPI inflation data has been revised downwards to minus 0.5 per cent, from the 0.11 per cent provisional estimate.

Experts however cautioned that unseasonal rains this month could be a dampener and the decline in food inflation may be short-lived, prompting the Reserve Bank to avoid lowering rates immediately.