India's wholesale price inflation dropped to the lowest level in more than three years in March, giving more room for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to reduce interest rates at the next month's meeting.
The wholesale price index, the main gauge of inflation in India, increased 5.96 percent annually, which was notably slower than the 6.84 percent growth seen in February, data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed Monday.
Economists had forecast inflation to ease to 6.27 percent. The latest figure was the lowest in forty months. Driving the deceleration, food prices advanced at a slower rate of 8.73 percent year-on-year than 11.38 percent in February.
The inflation rate for non-food articles weakened to 8.95 percent from 10.06 percent.
Fuel and energy prices advanced 10.18 percent annually, after rising 10.47 percent in the previous month. Costs of manufactured products rose 4.07 percent in March from a year earlier, following February's 4.51 percent gain.
The central bank reduced its key interest rates by a quarter point for the second time this year to underpin investment and take the economy back to a high growth track and signaled a pause in policy easing for the near term.
Retail inflation, based on the consumer price index, eased to 10.39 percent in March from 10.91 percent in February, marking the first deceleration in six months.The recent run of disappointing economic data has built the pressure on the central bank to ease policy further.
The statistical office on Friday said that industrial production increased at a significantly slower rate of 0.6 percent in February than 2.4 percent in January. Last week also saw some downbeat figures from the automobile manufacturing sector.
Car sales declined for the first time in a decade during the financial year ended March 31, figures from the industry body SIAM showed.
Underscoring the sluggish economic activity, the purchasing mangers' survey for March showed that India's manufacturing growth was the slowest in sixteen months as weakness in new orders and power outages continued to hamper production.
The RBI last month maintained its growth outlook for 2012-13 at 5.5 percent and its inflation projection at 6.8 percent. India's economic growth slowed to 4.5 percent during the October to December quarter from 5.3 percent in the previous three months.
rttnews.com
The wholesale price index, the main gauge of inflation in India, increased 5.96 percent annually, which was notably slower than the 6.84 percent growth seen in February, data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed Monday.
Economists had forecast inflation to ease to 6.27 percent. The latest figure was the lowest in forty months. Driving the deceleration, food prices advanced at a slower rate of 8.73 percent year-on-year than 11.38 percent in February.
The inflation rate for non-food articles weakened to 8.95 percent from 10.06 percent.
Fuel and energy prices advanced 10.18 percent annually, after rising 10.47 percent in the previous month. Costs of manufactured products rose 4.07 percent in March from a year earlier, following February's 4.51 percent gain.
The central bank reduced its key interest rates by a quarter point for the second time this year to underpin investment and take the economy back to a high growth track and signaled a pause in policy easing for the near term.
Retail inflation, based on the consumer price index, eased to 10.39 percent in March from 10.91 percent in February, marking the first deceleration in six months.The recent run of disappointing economic data has built the pressure on the central bank to ease policy further.
The statistical office on Friday said that industrial production increased at a significantly slower rate of 0.6 percent in February than 2.4 percent in January. Last week also saw some downbeat figures from the automobile manufacturing sector.
Car sales declined for the first time in a decade during the financial year ended March 31, figures from the industry body SIAM showed.
Underscoring the sluggish economic activity, the purchasing mangers' survey for March showed that India's manufacturing growth was the slowest in sixteen months as weakness in new orders and power outages continued to hamper production.
The RBI last month maintained its growth outlook for 2012-13 at 5.5 percent and its inflation projection at 6.8 percent. India's economic growth slowed to 4.5 percent during the October to December quarter from 5.3 percent in the previous three months.
rttnews.com
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