March WPI inflation drops to 1.34%; food inflation slows to 2.32%

India's Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation for the month of March came in at 1.34 per cent against 3.85 per cent in February.

"Decline in the rate of inflation in March, 2023 is primarily contributed by fall in prices of basic metals, food products, textiles, non-food articles, minerals, rubber and plastic products, crude petroleum and natural gas and paper and paper products," the Centre's press release read.

The WPI measures the price of a representative basket of wholesale goods in India. The index is divided into three groups namely primary articles (22.6 per cent of total weight), fuel and power (13.2 per cent) and manufactured products (64.2 per cent).

Earlier in February this year, the wholesale inflation had declined to a 25-month low of 3.85 per cent on easing prices of manufactured items and fuel and power, according to the government data.

Recently, the India's retail inflation eased to a 15-month low of 5.66 per cent in March.

The WPI-based inflation came in at 4.73 per cent in January, 4.95 per cent in December 2022, 5.85 per cent in November 2022.

The food index inflation against 2.76 per cent in February. It was 2.95 per cent in January.

This is the tenth straight month of decline in WPI-based inflation.