The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation for August 2024 dropped to 1.31%, down from 2.04% in July. This marks a continued deceleration, influenced largely by declines in prices of primary articles and fuel.
Key Highlights:
- All Commodities: The WPI index for all commodities stood at 154.5 in August, down from 155.2 in July, with inflation slowing to 1.31% from 2.04%.
- Primary Articles: The index for primary articles, which have a weight of 22.62%, declined to 194.9 in August from 197.6 in July. The inflation rate for this group decreased to 2.42%, down from 3.08% in July.
- Fuel & Power: This category, contributing 13.15% to the index, saw a slight increase in its index from 147.9 in July to 148.1 in August. However, the inflation rate turned negative, recording -0.67% compared to 1.72% in the previous month.
- Manufactured Products: The index for manufactured products, which holds the largest weight of 64.23%, saw a marginal decline, moving from 141.7 in July to 141.6 in August. The inflation rate for this group settled at 1.22%, slightly lower than the 1.58% recorded in July.
- Food Index: The Food Index, which includes both food articles and food products from the manufactured category, decreased from 195.4 in July to 193.2 in August. The inflation rate for this group dropped to 3.26%, compared to 3.55% in the previous month.
Month-over-Month Changes:
- The month-on-month (MoM) change for the WPI index overall stood at -0.45% in August, compared to an increase of 0.78% in July.
- Primary articles saw the sharpest MoM decline, falling by 1.37% in August after increasing by 2.76% in July.
- Fuel & power prices posted a marginal increase of 0.14% MoM, compared to the 0.68% increase recorded in July.
- Manufactured products saw a slight decline, posting a -0.07% change in August compared to a -0.21% change in July.
- The Food Index recorded a 1.13% decrease MoM, compared to the 2.46% increase witnessed in July.
