New Delhi, 15 December (H.S.): Consumers received slight relief on the inflation front as India’s wholesale inflation rate continued to remain in the negative zone in November. According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation stood at –0.32% in November, improving from –1.21% in October.

In comparison, wholesale inflation had stood at 2.16% in November 2024.The ministry attributed the decline to lower prices of food items, mineral oils, crude petroleum, natural gas, basic metals, and electricity. As per official data, food inflation eased sharply to 4.16% in November, from 8.31% in October. Vegetable inflation also saw a steep fall, coming down to 20.23% from 34.97% a month earlier.

Among individual commodities, pulse prices dropped 15.21%, while potato and onion prices fell by 36.14% and 64.70%, respectively. In the manufactured products category, inflation decreased slightly to 1.33% in November compared to 1.54% in October. Meanwhile, fuel and power inflation eased to 2.27% from 2.55% during the same period.

Last week, separate data showed that retail inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), inched up marginally—rising from a record low of 0.25% to 0.71% in November—primarily driven by the rising cost of food items. Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had reduced the benchmark repo rate by 25 basis points, bringing it down to 5.25%, to give further support to economic activity amid easing wholesale inflationary pressures.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar