WPI inflation gallops to 6-month high of 3.59%

As per the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), inflation was 2.60 per cent in September.

In October last year, it was 1.27 per cent.

The inflation figure for October this year is the highest since April, when it was at 3.85 per cent.

The government data released on Tuesday showed that inflation in food articles more than doubled to 4.30 per cent in October.

In case of onions, it skyrocketed to 127.04 per cent, while for vegetables it was 36.61 per cent. In the eggs, meat and fish segment, the rate of price rise was 5.76 per cent.

ICRA Principal Economist Aditi Nayar said the spike in WPI inflation was broad-based, led by vegetables, fruit, crude oil, natural gas, fuels, minerals and electricity.

"The sharper-than-anticipated uptick in the WPI inflation reinforces our expectation of a status quo in the upcoming monetary policy review," Nayar said.

Reserve Bank of India is scheduled to come out with its next monetary policy review on December 6.

Inflation in manufactured products saw a slight dip to 2.62 per cent, as against 2.72 per cent in September.

In the fuel and power segment, it rose to 10.52 per cent, as against 9.01 per cent in September.

Fuel inflation has remained high for the past three months as petrol and diesel prices continued to rule high, tracking global crude oil rates. Power tariffs shot through the roof on lower domestic production.

Industry chamber Assocham said the continuous increase in petrol and diesel prices must be taken care of by policymakers since it may have impact on the import bill and, subsequently, on exchange rates.

"It may also have a negative impact on input prices for the industry which has already started to feel pressure on its profitability," it added.

Pulses continued to witness deflation at 31.05 per cent.

Likewise, in potato deflation was at 44.29 per cent and wheat at 1.99 per cent in October.

As per the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released on Monday, retail inflation for October rose to a 7-month high of 3.58 per cent on costlier food items, especially vegetables.

Besides, industrial production for September expanded at 3.8 per cent, on poor showing by the manufacturing sector coupled with decline in consumer durables output.

Last month, the Reserve Bank kept benchmark interest rate unchanged on fears of rising inflation while lowering growth forecast to 6.7 per cent for the current fiscal.

RBI also raised its inflation forecast to the 4.2-4.6 per cent range for the rest of the current fiscal as against 4-4.5 per cent previously.

New Delhi: Export declined by 1.12 per cent to $23 billion in October, retreating from a six-month high growth in September as shipments of textiles, pharmaceuticals, leather and gems and jewellery fell, official data showed.

Imports, however, grew by 7.6 per cent to $37.11 billion in October from $34.5 billion in the year-ago month, the commerce ministry data released on Tuesday showed.

Trade deficit widened to $14 billion during the month under review as against $11.13 billion in October 2016.

Gold imports dipped by 16 per cent to $2.94 billion last month.

Oil and non-oil imports grew by 27.89 per cent and 2.19 per cent to $9.28 billion and $27.83 billion, respectively in October.

Cumulative exports during April-October 2017-18 increased by 9.62 per cent to $170.28 billion, while imports grew by 22.21 per cent to $256.43 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $86.14 billion.

In October, petroleum, engineering and chemicals exports grew by 14.74 per cent, 11.77 per cent and 22.29 per cent, respectively.

India's export had soared by 25.67 per cent to $28.61 billion in September, logging its highest growth in last six months on the back of expansion in shipments of chemicals, petroleum and engineering products.

Trade deficit is an economic measure of international trade in which a country's imports exceeds its exports. A trade deficit represents an outflow of domestic currency to foreign markets. It is also called a negative balance of trade.

Mumbai: Services export of India remained flat at $13.73 billion in September year-on-year while import slightly picked up to $8.45 billion, showed Reserve Bank of India data. In September 2016, India had exported services worth $13.77 billion. The import grew 1.7 per cent from $8.30 billion last year. In August 2017, the services export was $13.7 billion while the import came in at $8.66 billion. Cumulatively, the services export during April-September read $80.33 billion. Import of services was valued at $46.74 billion in the first half of the fiscal, showed the data on India's International Trade in Services released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). India is one of the major economies contributing to the world services export industry. The services sector contributes to about 55 per cent in India's gross domestic product. The data for the latest month comes with a lag of 45 days. The data published by the Reserve Bank of India is provisional and undergoes revision when the Balance of Payments (BoP) data is released on a quarterly basis.