Nov wholesale inflation stays in negative zone

WHOLESALE PRICE INFLATION remained in negative territory for the second consecutive month in November, primarily due to a decrease in the prices of food articles, mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, basic metals and electricity, the government data released on Monday showed.

- FE BUREAU

The Wholesale Price Index-based inflation fell to (-) 0.32% in November from 2.16% in the same month last year. This also marked the fourth instance of WPI entering in negative in the last six months.

However, the extent of deflation narrowed sequentially due to seasonal increase in the prices of select food items. The WPI was (-)1.21% in October.

According to the data, the deflation in food articles was 4.16% compared to 8.31% in October. The deflation in vegetables and fruits was 20.23% and 0.91% in November, as against 34.97% and 7.03% in October, respectively.