Wholesale inflation turns positive after 17 months

Wholesale price-based inflation turned positive after 17 months, posting an annual gain of 0.34 per cent in April, on rise in vegetables and pulses prices.

The March Wholesale Price Index-based inflation was at (-) 0.85 per cent.

"The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at 0.34 per cent (provisional) for the month of April, 2016 as compared to (-)0.85 per cent for the previous month," said the government data released on Monday.

It was (-)2.43 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year, showed the data.

Food inflation stood at 4.23 per cent in April compared with 3.73 per cent in March.

Inflation in vegetables came in at 2.21 per cent compared with (-)2.26 per cent in April while the same in pulses was high at 36.36 per cent as against 34.45 per cent.

However, other daily consumables such as onion and fruits saw further easing of prices, with these sub-indices falling (-)18.18 per cent and (-)2.38 per cent, respectively.

Last week a government data showed a rise in retail inflation for the month of April at 5.39 per cent versus 4.83 per cent in the previous month.

Image: A vegetable vendor in Kolkata. Photograph: Dipak Chakraborty/Rediff.com