October WPI inflation eases to 5-year low of 1.77 per cent

The wholesale price inflation fell to a five-year low of 1.77 per cent in October on the back of continuing decline in food prices, including vegetables.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation stood at 2.38 per cent in September 2014 and 7.24 per cent in October for the privious year.

According to government data released on Friday, food inflation fell to a nearly two-and-half year low of 2.7 per cent. Food price inflation has been declining since May.

The sharp drop in WPI inflation, which fell for the fifth month in a row, came at the back of retail inflation declining to a record low of 5.52 per cent in October.

The rate of price rise in onion contracted 59.77 per cent as compared to a contraction of 58.12 per cent in September.

In case of vegetables, the contraction was 19.61 per cent, while in protein rich items like egg, meat and fish it was 2.58 per cent in October.

During the reporting month, inflation in potato stood at 82.11 per cent, against 90.23 per cent in September. Inflation in manufactured products, like sugar, edible oils, beverages and cement, fell to 2.43 per cent in October as against 2.84 per cent in the previous month.