Inflation breached the 5.0 per cent figure with price level rising for the second consecutive week by 0.30 per cent to 5.3 per cent in the week ended March five despite cheaper fruits and vegetables.
In September, JSW MG Motor India, the newly minted joint venture between SAIC Motor, which is present in 100 countries, and Indian conglomerate JSW Group, launched the Windsor, an electric car that introduced battery as a service (BaaS).
Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty gave up early gains to close lower for a fourth straight session on Thursday due to selling in IT and banking shares amid weak global equities. The 30-share BSE benchmark settled 98 points or 0.18 per cent lower at 53,416.15. During the day, it hit a high of 53,861.28 and a low of 53,163.77. The broader NSE Nifty also pared initial gains and ended 28 points or 0.18 per cent down to settle at 15,938.65.
A little away from the city in the northern suburbs, vegetables are 15-30 per cent costlier.
In the month of May wholesale price inflation entered double digits and stood at 10.16 per cent.
Benchmark Sensex declined 224 points on Wednesday, snapping its four-session winning streak, mainly due to sell-off in IT and pharma counters amid rising concerns over possible aggressive interest rate hikes to tame high inflation. The 30-share index rebounded more than 1,200 points from the early lows before settling at 60,346.97 points, a total loss of 224.11 points or 0.37 per cent compared to Tuesday's closing level. The broader NSE Nifty closed lower 66.30 points or 0.37 per cent at 18,003.75 points.
"This year (2009-10), our WPI is low and I don't see any problem on the horizon which could destabilise us except oil prices which remain a question," said Rajya Sabha MP and former Reserve Bank Governor Bimal Jalan. On the high fiscal deficit, Jalan said he did not think stimulus packages posed a problem. On taxation, he said it would not be good for the country not to have a reasonable rate of tax on profit and dividend.
Wholesale prices too rose at the same pace to 45-55 per kg in the national capital and other states.
The inflation rate has been falling at a steady pace, after peaking at 12.83 per cent for the week ended August 16, 2008, mainly due to declining commodity prices. However, on a week-on-week basis, the WPI rose marginally by 0.04 per cent, due to increase in prices of certain articles, including food products like fruit and vegetables, condiments and spices as well as some processed food items.
The wholesale price-based inflation stood at 12.13 per cent during the corresponding week a year ago.
Retail inflation hit an eight-month high of 6.07 per cent in February, remaining above the RBI's comfort level for the second month in a row, while wholesale price-based inflation soared to 13.11 per cent on account of hardening of crude oil and non-food item prices, government data showed on Monday. The previous high for retail inflation was 6.26 per cent in June 2021. The consumer price index (CPI) based retail inflation, which is taken into account by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) while deciding its monetary policy, rose mainly because of costlier food items, as per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
The country's chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu had last month said he expects the hike in fuel prices to lead to one percentage point rise in inflation.
'Spending by the middle class is limited with a focus on savings. However, there is buoyancy at the top-end.'
Inflation rose to 4.27 per cent for the week ended June 30 as compared to 4.13 per cent in the previous week mainly due to increase in prices of food articles and some manufactured items.
In line with the government's expectations, inflation, which rose for the previous two weeks, fell below 8 per cent for the week ended September 4 mainly due to fall in the prices of vegetables and some edible oils.
Hardening prices of manufactured items during the month may refrain the Reserve Bank of India from cutting rates in its policy review on February 8.
Increased harvesting is expected to boost supply
After remaining unchanged for a week, inflation rose by 0.28 per cent to 7.38 per cent for the week ended October 23, mainly due to costlier vegetables, fuels and certain manufactured products.
In a major decision to bring petroleum products in line with market rates, the government on Friday freed petrol from all pricing controls and hiked diesel prices by Rs 2 a litre.
Inflation shot up to 7.51 per cent, the highest in the last two years, due to soaring prices of vegetables and manufactured products.\n\n\n\n
The wholesale price-based inflation stood at 0.92 per cent in the previous week.
The wholesale price index-based inflation remained negative for the 11th consecutive week since June 6 mainly on high base. It was 12.82 per cent for the corresponding week last year. Prices of inland fish shot up by 25 per cent over the previous week, eggs became dearer by 10 per cent, masur dal was costly by 8 per cent, milk price went up by 5 per cent, and fruits and vegetables became expensive by 3 per cent.
"The increase in minimum support price of many crops may keep the food inflation from falling in the current year," said the finance ministry in the mid-year review. MSP, which is determined by the government to protect the farmers' earnings, has increased by 15-40 per cent in the current fiscal for three major categories -- wheat, paddy and coarse grains. The latest hike in MSP announced during this election year is the largest in the last four years.
After government's measures like export ban and import from Pakistan, average wholesale prices of onion in Nashik district's various Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) markets have come down by around 45 per cent to Rs 2,071 a quintal in the last three days.
Inflation fell to 3.84 per cent in the week ended July 30 from 4.07 per cent a week ago, due to cheaper food items and manufactured products although fuel prices went up.
After climbing to the highest level in more than five years to 4.7 million tonnes in FY24, India might import fewer quantities of pulses this financial year at 4-4.5 mt on the back of good monsoon and higher domestic production, Bimal Kothari, chairman of India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA), said in New Delhi on Friday. Kothari was addressing reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on pulses titled "Bharat Dalhan-2024".
The Interim Budget for 2024-25 (FY25) to be presented on February 1 is likely to assume 10-10.5 per cent nominal gross domestic product (GDP) growth against 8.9 per cent estimated for FY24 by the National Statistical Office (NSO). "We were waiting for the First Advance Estimates GDP numbers for FY24. "We will finalise the nominal GDP growth assumption for FY25 Interim Budget in a couple of days.
Overall, volume growth is likely to be in the range of 3-8 per cent for two-wheelers and 5-7 per cent for passenger vehicles owing to healthy demand from urban and rural areas and pending order books.
The Centre will sell tomatoes at Rs 80 per kg from Sunday, as against Rs 90 per kg earlier, to provide relief to people from high prices of the key kitchen item in retail markets.
Wholesale price-based inflation stood at 8.90 per cent in the corresponding week a year ago.
Retail inflation dropped to 6.77 per cent in October from 7.41 per cent in the preceding month, mainly due to easing prices in the food basket, though it remained above Reserve Bank's comfort level for the 10th month in a row, according to the government data released on Monday. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation has remained above the 6 per cent target since January this year.
Quarterly earnings from IT majors Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, macroeconomic data announcements, global trends and trading activity of foreign investors would guide the movement in the equity market this week, analysts said. Movement of global oil benchmark Brent crude and the rupee will also influence trading in the markets. "All eyes will be on the beginning of corporate performance for the second quarter of the current fiscal year. TCS is slated to unveil its Q2 results on October 11, with HCL Technologies and Infosys following suit on October 12.
Inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index, was 7.55 per cent in May. In June last year, it was 9.51 per cent.
Several experts are of the view that inflationary pressure, including that in food items, may build from October with economic activity gathering steam. However, the price movement in three key items of tomato, onions and potatoes, commonly known as TOP, may give some solace in the months to come. Traders and market watchers said the price movement in all the three will remain within the band sans any unusual spikes.
Inflation shot up by 0.1 per cent to over 41-month high of 7.61 per cent week ended July 31, mainly due to surge in prices of fruit and vegetables, edible oil and other manufactured products.
Inflation rose to 4.10 per cent for the week ended August 11, against 4.05 per cent in the previous week, mainly due to higher prices of fruits and vegetables, bajra, masoor, gram and some manufactured goods.
After falling substantially in the previous week, inflation rose marginally by 0.06 per cent to 7.87 per cent for the week ended September 11 mainly due to costlier manufactured products including some edible oils.
The short-term inflation outlook for India is benign, and the expectation of a normal monsoon and moderating global prices of key imported items give credence to the projections made by the RBI and IMF, the Economic Survey said on Monday. However, to ensure long-term policy stability, the Survey 2023-24 suggested making focused efforts to increase the production of major oilseeds, expanding the area under pulses, and assess the progress in developing modern storage facilities for specific crops.
Finance Minister Chidambaram said rising prices of primary food articles was worrying him. High food prices the world over and a supply-demand mismatch were behind the high prices, he said, adding this was beyond the influence of the monetary policy.
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