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.
The gross NPAs of some public sector banks had crossed 4 per cent of their total assets at the end of September.
For manufactured products, the wholesale inflation was at (-)0.84 per cent in October 2019.
The domestic stock market this week would monitor the geopolitical developments after India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop military actions, analysts said. Moreover, macroeconomic data announcements, Q4 earnings, trading activity of foreign investors and global market trends are also likely to influence sentiments, traders said.
Consumer price inflation touched a nine-month high of 11.24 per cent last month.
His comments poured cold water on hopes that the central bank may have a rethink on rates after the wholesale price index, the main inflation gauge, rose a lower-than-expected annual 7.25 per cent in June, its slowest rise since January, helped by moderation in fuel prices.
Commuters on national highways and expressways will need to pay more for their road journeys, as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has increased toll charges by an average of 4 to 5 per cent on highway sections across the country. The revised toll charges for motorists on national highways across the country have come into effect from Tuesday, a senior highways ministry official told PTI.
The increase by more than three per cent is largely due to jump in the rate of inflation in the case of WPI for fuel, power, light and lubricants
Inflation for the month of August stood at 8.51 per cent, according to the new Wholesale Price Inflation (WPI) series.
However, WPI inflation remained in double digit for the third consecutive month in July, mainly due to a low base of last year. WPI inflation was (-) 0.25 per cent, in July 2020. "The high rate of inflation in July 2021 is primarily due to low base effect and rise in prices of crude petroleum and natural gas; mineral oils; manufactured products like basic metals; food products; textiles; chemicals and chemical products etc as compared the corresponding month of the previous year," the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.
Potato, a daily consumable vegetable, witnessed maximum inflationary pressure at 60.58 per cent
India's year-on-year inflation rate as measured by the consumer price index rose to 3.43 per cent in January from 3.2 in December, a government statement said on Wednesday.
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.
The food-price segment in the WPI has been growing at 8.3 per cent, much higher than the rise in the index for manufactured articles. In fact, segments like minerals and fuel have witnessed a decline in the WPI and have pulled the inflation down. The rise in food prices affects the common man more than the increase in prices of any other item.
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.
The Producer Price Index will be better able to measure the average change over time in the sale prices of domestic goods and services, the Reserve Bank Governor said.
India's headline retail inflation is expected to moderate further in the months to come, as low wholesale inflation will transmit to consumer prices, the Ministry of Finance said in its latest monthly economic review (MER) on Monday. "Inflationary pressures eased in February, with slight moderation in Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation softening to a 25-month low. "With WPI inflation easing, its transmission to CPI inflation is soon expected," the MER for February said.
Wholesale price-based inflation rose to a record high of 15.88 per cent in May on rising prices of food items and crude oil. The Wholesale Price Index-based inflation was 15.08 per cent in April and 13.11 per cent in May last year. "The high rate of inflation in May, 2022 is primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, food articles, basic metals, non-food articles, chemicals & chemical products and food products etc. as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year," the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.
Driven by erratic monsoon and higher global crude prices, inflation is likely to grow by 5.7 per cent in the current fiscal ending March 2006, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.
WPI inflation, which was in the negative zone from November 2014 to March 2016, has been on an upward trend for the seventh straight month
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
Food inflation rose for the third successive week and moved closer to 18 per cent in the week ended January 30.
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.
Consumer price-based index of products consumed by agricultural labourers rose to 17.21 per cent in December compared to 15.65 per cent in previous month, a Labour Bureau statement said on Wednesday. However, inflation measured by wholesale prices was 7.31 per cent in December.
Industrial production was seen growing 1.8 per cent from a year earlier in July, slower than June's 3.4 per cent increase, according to the median consensus in a poll of 31 economists.
However, some analysts say RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan may delay the rate cuts amid mounting concerns over the government's fiscal health.
India's annual inflation rate dropped to its lowest since March in the week ended May 24, the government said on Sunday, and analysts forecast further falls that would allow the central bank to keep interest rates soft.
Inflation in food articles during June stood at 2.04 per cent, as against 1.13 per cent in May.
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).
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.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday commended Indian financial sector regulators for doing a "world-class job" and bringing greater transparency into the system. Underlining that she is not against questioning or critiquing regulators, Sitharaman said there is a need to be "extremely conscious" about contributions made by them as well. Speaking at the Financial Express Best Banks Awards, the finance minister said, "I strongly recommend that facts are taken on board before we discuss anything to do with the regulators, strictly speaking."
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.
This could be the reason why Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned tomato, onion, and potato as his government's 'TOP' priority, in an election rally on February 5 in poll-bound Karnataka.
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.
Inflation rose to 4.86 per cent in June, driven mainly by rising prices of food articles, especially vegetables including onion.
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.
In August, wholesale prices rose 3.74 per cent year-on-year.
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.
Higher prices for essential commodities following the truckers' strike pushed up inflation by 0.16 per cent to a four-year high of 8.33 per cent for the week ended August 28.
The central bank is widely expected to increase the repo rate by 25 basis points on Tuesday to 7.75 per cent to fight inflation even as it continues to unwind its rupee defense steps, a Reuters poll showed.
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