CPI slips to 2.99%, wholesale inflation rises to 3.85% in April 2017

The government put the industrial output at a higher-than-expected 2.7 per cent.

Written by: Sakshita Khosla

Published: May 12, 2017, 6:55 PM IST

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https://www.india.com/business/cpi-slips-to-2-99-wholesale-inflation-rises-to-3-85-in-april-2017-2125986/ Copy

Mumbai, May 11: The Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released the figures for the Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) inflation on Friday and it recorded a higher-than-expected overall slip of 2.99 per cent from last month’s recorded overall CPI of 3.89 per cent. According to government figures, the Rural CPI was put at 3.02 per cent and the Urban CPI was put at 3.03 per cent for April 2017 with respect to the same month of last year.

The reason for the higher ease in inflation was the smaller rise in food prices putting the Consumer Price Inflation well within the prescribed RBI limit of 2 to 6 per cent. According to government figures, the Rural CPI for March 2017 was 3.75 per cent and the Urban CPI was 3.96 per cent. On the other hand last year, the overall CPI stood at 5.47 per cent, with a Rural CPI of 6.17 per cent and the Urban CPI of 4.68 per cent. Meanwhile, India’s industrial output rose to a higher-than-expected 2.7 per cent in March 2017, as compared to March 2016.

According to a report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA-ML) report, the CPI was pegged at 3.2 per cent. Retail inflation had jumped to a five-month high at 3.81 per cent in March. Meanwhile, the Wholesale Inflation rose to 3.85 per cent in April 2017, as compared to the same month last year. The rise was optimistic as compared to annual rise forecast by economists in a Reuters poll that put the WPI at 4.79 per cent.

The government on Friday released a new series of wholesale and consumer inflation and industrial output figures and also revised the base year for all-India Index of Industrial Production (IIP) from 2004-05 to 2011-12. A government press release about the revision said that the base year was changed “to not only reflect the changes in the industrial sector but to also align it with the base year of other macroeconomic indicators like the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Wholesale Price Index (WPI).”