India’s wholesale prices in the country witnessed deflation of 3.21 per cent in May due to sharp decline, the government said in a statement on Monday.
“The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at (-) 3.21 per cent (provisional) for May 2020 as compared to 2.79 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year,” the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.
The Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) resumed releasing g detailed data on wholesale price index (WPI) after suspending it for a month.
In April, the government had released limited information due to data collection issues, but its final index will be released next month.
As per the latest data, inflation in food articles during the month under review stood at 1.13 per cent, as against 2.55 per cent in April. In fuel and power basket, deflation stood at 19.83 per cent in May, as against 10.12 per cent in the previous month.
Similarly, fuel and power inflation was at -19.83 per cent against -10.12 per cent in April.
Manufactured products too witnessed deflation of 0.42 per cent in May.
Due to the nationwide lockdown imposed since March 25, the ministry had released truncated WPI inflation data for April, with figures of food, primary articles and fuel and power.
“Price data is collected from selected institutional sources and industrial establishments spread across the country online through web based portal maintained by the National Informatics Centre (NIC),” the ministry said.
The final print of March WPI inflation stood at 0.42 per cent as compared to its provisional levels of 1 per cent reported on April 14, 2020, the ministry said.