India’s annual rate of inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI), stood at 5.09 per cent for the month of July 2018 over same month of last year. The index for apparel decreased by 0.7 per cent to 138.2 in July, according to the provisional data released by the Office of the Economic Adviser, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The official WPI for all commodities (Base: 2011-12 = 100) for the month of July 2018 rose by 0.4 per cent to 119.7 from the previous month’s level of 119.2, the data showed.
The index for manufactured products (weight 64.23 per cent) for July 2018 rose by 0.1 per cent to 117.4 from 117.3 for the previous month. The index for ‘Manufacture of wearing apparel’ sub-group declined by 0.7 per cent to 138.2 from 139.2 for the previous month due to lower price of knitted and crocheted apparel (3 per cent). On the other hand, the index for ‘Manufacture of Textiles’ sub-group rose by 1.0 per cent to 117.1 from 115.9 for the previous month due to higher price of knitted and crocheted fabrics (2 per cent); synthetic yarn, cotton yarn, viscose yarn, woolen yarn, weaving and finishing of textiles and manufacture of cordage, rope, twine and netting (1 per cent each).
The index for primary articles (Weight 22.62 per cent) rose by 1.3 per cent to 134.9 from 133.2 for the previous month. The index for fuel and power (weight 13.15 per cent) also rose by 0.3 per cent to 104.4 from 104.1 for the previous month due to higher price of bitumen, LPG, petroleum coke, kerosene, and furnace oil. However, the price of ATF, naphtha, HSD and petrol declined. Meanwhile, the all-India consumer price index (CPI) on base 2012=100 stood at 4.17 (provisional) in July 2018 compared to 4.92 (final) in June, 2018 and 2.36 in July, 2017, according to the Central Statistics Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
