Wholesale prices decline

Wholesale prices, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), contracted for the sixth consecutive month in September, according to data released on 17 October by the Union Ministry of commerce and industry, coming in at -0.26% from -0.52% for the previous month. The contraction of nearly 0.3% in September 2023’s WPI print positively surprised analysts. A Bloomberg poll of economists had projected a 0.3% expansion in WPI for September 2023. The lower-than-expected WPI data comes after a sharp fall in the benchmark inflation rate, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), from 6.8% to 5% between August and September.