The wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation in August cooled to a four-month low of 1.31 per cent. This is down from 2.04 per cent in July and mainly due to a reduction in the prices of manufactured products and food items.

The Ministry of Commerce in a statement said the positive rate of inflation in August is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, processed food products, other manufacturing, manufacture of textiles and manufacture of machinery & equipment.

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Food price inflation stood at 3.11 per cent, compared to 3.45 per cent in July.

Prices of other major sub-indices, such as manufactured products, decelerated. Further, the prices of fuel and power contracted too, the ministry data said.

Within food articles, prices of cereals decelerated by 8.44 per cent, paddy by 9.12 per cent, and pulses by 18.57 per cent.

There was a slight deceleration in the price of onion (65.75 per cent) but inflation remained in double digits.

On the other hand, the prices of potatoes accelerated by 77.96 per cent and fruits by 16.7 per cent in August.

Manufactured products also saw a decline in inflation to 1.22 per cent from 1.58 per cent in July.

This was led by a deceleration in the prices of manufactured food products (3.61 per cent), beverages (1.9 per cent ), textiles (1.79 per cent), wood products (3.17 per cent), and pharmaceuticals (1.97 per cent ), among others.

Factory gate prices for fuel and power (-0.67 per cent) contracted as high-speed diesel (-3.03 per cent) and petrol (-4.23 per cent) further declined in August.

However, the price of cooking gas (14.4 per cent) accelerated.

Recently, the government has also released the Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based headline retail inflation data. The retail inflation in August stood at 3.65 per cent .

Corresponding inflation rates for rural and urban areas are 4.16 per cent and 3.14 per cent, respectively.

Decline in inflation is observed in the subgroups of ‘Spices’, ‘Meat and Fish’ and ‘Pulses and products’.

The data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed that food inflation rose slightly to 5.66 per cent from 5.42 per cent in July, driven by acceleration in the prices of fruits (6.45 per cent ), vegetables (10.71 per cent), and non-alcoholic beverages (2.40 per cent ).