India's wholesale prices decreased for the first time in nearly three years in April, largely led by a sharp slowdown in fuel and power prices, food prices, and a fall in costs for manufactured products, provisional data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry revealed on Monday.
The wholesale price index, or WPI, dropped 0.92 percent year-over-year in April, reversing a 1.34 percent rise in March. Economists had expected a 0.2 percent fall.
Further, this was the first decline in wholesale prices since July 2020.
The fall in April was primarily contributed by the fall in prices of basic metals, food products, mineral oils, textiles, non-food articles, chemical and chemical products, rubber and plastic products, and paper and paper products, the ministry said.
Food prices rose at a slower pace of 0.17 percent in April versus a 2.32 percent gain in the prior month. The annual price growth in fuel and power eased considerably to 0.93 percent from 8.96 percent.
Meanwhile, the yearly price growth in manufactured products dropped at a faster pace of 2.42 percent compared to a 0.77 percent decline a month ago.
On a monthly basis, wholesale prices remained flat for the second successive month in April.
Data released last week showed that India's consumer price inflation eased to an 18-month low of 4.7 percent in April. Moreover, inflation returned within the RBI's tolerance band of 2-6 percent for the second straight month.
