The Cost Of Covid Control?

Inflation

- M.G. Arun

As India’s second wave of Covid cases began to surge in late February/ early March, policymakers and bankers were concerned that the lockdowns states were implementing to combat the virus could stoke inflation. As the data for WPI (wholesale price index) inflation—which tracks pre-retail prices of goods—flowed in, these concerns proved well-founded.

In April this year, WPI inflation spiked to an 11-year high of 10.49 per cent, compared with the same month last year. It rose from 7.39 per cent in March, on the back of price increases in basic metals, power and fuel, the last two of which are at four-year highs. One reason for the high reading in April is the ‘low base effect’—in April last year, following the national lockdown imposed on March 25, WPI inflation had crashed to -1.6 per cent.