Daijiworld Media Network- New Delhi
New Delhi, May 14: In a significant development on the economic front, India's wholesale inflation (WPI) dropped sharply to 0.85% in April 2025, compared to 2.45% in March, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday.
The decline was driven primarily by a 5.31% drop in crude petroleum and natural gas prices and a 1.78% fall in non-food articles. However, inflation in sectors such as minerals (7.81%) and food articles (0.36%) saw a slight uptick during the same period.
The Ministry explained that the positive WPI in April was mainly due to rising prices in the manufacturing sector, particularly in food products, chemicals, machinery, transport equipment, and other manufacturing categories.
On a month-on-month basis, the primary articles index fell marginally by 0.11%, while the Fuel & Power category registered a sharper 2.82% drop, reflecting easing energy costs.
Contrastingly, the Manufactured Products Index rose by 0.35%, climbing from 144.4 in March to 144.9 in April. Meanwhile, the WPI Food Index showed a modest rise to 189.3 from 188.8, although its annual inflation rate cooled to 2.55%, down from 4.66% the previous month.
Economists point out that a mild positive WPI typically suggests a healthy manufacturing sentiment, as it encourages production without severely impacting consumer affordability.
It is worth noting that wholesale inflation has remained in positive territory for over a year now. In contrast, WPI had slipped into negative territory in April last year, and had also gone negative during the early COVID-19 period in July 2020.
WPI had remained in double digits for 18 consecutive months until September 2022, largely due to global supply shocks and high input costs during the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
On the retail front, the Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation also showed signs of easing, coming down to 3.16% in April from 3.34% in March, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
With both wholesale and retail inflation trending downward, experts believe the current trend could offer some policy room for the Reserve Bank of India to maintain stability while supporting growth.