Wholesale inflation rises to 3.18% in March

Monday,   15-Apr-2019   12:28 PM (IST)

India's wholesale inflation accelerated to 3.18 percent in March as against 2.93 percent in February. The core inflation data for the month of March was at 2.50 percent as compared to 2.30 percent, monthly. Wholesale inflation in food rose to 3.89 percent as against 3.29 percent in February. Vegetable inflation soared to 28.13 percent against 6.82 percent in January. WPI inflation in primary articles also rose to 5.07 percent versus 4.84 percent in the previous month. Wholesale inflation is likely to harden on a monthly basis on higher food inflation on account of higher vegetable prices. Higher food inflation has contributed to the overall inflation figure. Data released by the government showed fuel and power inflation rose to 5.41 percent as against 2.23 percent in February. The non-food articles inflation fell to 2.23 percent in March, compared to 5.05 percent in the previous month. Analysts on an average expected wholesale inflation to be in the range of 2.90 percent to 3.40 percent. Core wholesale inflation data in February was expected to harden around 2.90 percent as compared to 2.84 percent earlier.