Inflation cools to (-)0.9% in Jan as food prices ease

Reversing four months of rising trend, WPI inflation fell to (-)0.9 per cent in January as food articles, mainly vegetables and pulses, turned cheaper.

The Wholesale Price Index-based inflation was (-)0.73 per cent in December. In January 2015, it was (-)0.95 per cent.

This is the 15th straight month since November 2014 that deflationary pressure persisted and wholesale inflation has remained in the negative zone.

Food inflation stood at 6.02 per cent in January as against 8.17 per cent in December, showed official data which were released on Monday.

Inflation in pulses and onion eased to 44.91 per cent and 5.51 per cent, respectively.

The rate of price rise in the case of vegetables was 12.52 per cent in January and for fruits, it stood at (-)2.32 per cent.

Price growth in potato was (-)17.08 per cent while that of egg, meat and fish came in at 5.69 per cent.

The inflation print in the fuel and power segment was (-)9.21 per cent and for manufactured products, it read (-)1.17 per cent in January.

The November Inflation has been revised to (-)2.04 per cent from the provisional estimate of (-)1.99 per cent.

Last week, data showed that retail inflation has been rising for six straight months and stood at nearly one and a half-year high of 5.69 per cent in January.

The central bank looks into mainly retail inflation data while firming up its monetary policy stance.

RBI also takes into account industrial production numbers.

As per latest data, Index of Industrial Production contracted 1.3 per cent in December as against a decline of 3.4 per cent in November.