India's wholesale price inflation eased further in October to reach its lowest level in just over one-and-a-half years, provisional data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry revealed on Monday.
The wholesale price index climbed 8.39 percent year-over-year in October, slower than the 10.70 rise in September. Economists had expected inflation to ease to 8.70 percent.
Further, the rate of inflation turned to a single-digit figure and the slowest since March 2021.
The decline in inflation was contributed by a fall in the price of mineral oils, basic metals, fabricated metal products, textiles, other non-metallic mineral products, and minerals, the Ministry said.
The overall inflation was primarily driven by a 23.17 percent surge in fuel and power prices, though well below the 32.61 percent jump in August.
Prices for primary articles grew 11.04 percent and those for manufactured products gained 4.42 percent.
Inflation based on food prices softened to 6.48 percent in October from 8.08 percent in September, and costs for non-food articles logged an annual growth of 9.24 percent.
On a monthly basis, wholesale prices increased 0.26 percent in October, reversing a 0.72 percent decline in the prior month. This was the first rise in four months.
India's consumer price inflation is expected to come in later today. The inflation rate was at a five-month high of 7.41 percent in September versus 7.0 percent in August.
The RBI aims to maintain inflation between 4 percent and 6 percent.
Over the weekend, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said consumer price inflation is likely to fall below 7 percent in October.
Although inflation has continued to stay above the tolerance band, there is no need to change the current inflation target, the governor said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2022.
