Wholesale price-based inflation eased to a 19-month low of 8.39 per cent in October on softening fuel and manufactured goods prices.
This is the first time in 19 months that the WPI inflation print has come in single digits. The last time was in March 2021 at 7.89 per cent.
From April 2021, WPI inflation remained in double digits for 18 months with the September print at 10.79 per cent. The inflation rate in October 2021 was 13.83 percent.
“Declination in inflation in October 2022 mainly except for mineral oils, basic metals, fabricated metal products, machinery and equipment; textiles; other non-metallic mineral products; minerals etc,” the commerce and industry ministry said on Monday. .
Inflation in food articles stood at 8.33 per cent in October as against 11.03 per cent in the previous month.
Inflation in vegetables stood at 17.61 per cent during the month as against 39.66 per cent in September.
Inflation in the ‘fuel and power’ basket was 23.17 per cent, while in manufactured products it was 4.42 per cent during October.
The Reserve Bank takes into account retail inflation for formulating monetary policy. October retail inflation data will be released later in the day and is likely to come in below 7 per cent.
The RBI hiked interest rates by 190 basis points to 5.90 per cent between May and September to control persistently high inflation, which remained above the RBI’s upper tolerance level of 6 per cent for three consecutive quarters.