India’s annual rate of inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI), for August 2019, remained unchanged at 1.08 compared to July 2019. The index for textiles dipped 0.8 per cent while for apparel it was down 0.6 per cent in August, according to the provisional data released by the Office of the Economic Adviser, ministry of commerce and industry. The official WPI for all commodities (Base: 2011-12 = 100) for the month of August 2019 rose by 0.2 per cent to 121.4 from the previous month’s level of 121.2, the data showed. The index for manufactured products (weight 64.23 per cent) for August 2019 declined by 0.3 per cent to 117.8 from 118.1 for the previous month. The index for ‘Manufacture of Wearing Apparel’ sub-group declined by 0.6 per cent to 136.3 from 137.1 for the previous month due to lower price of woven apparel, except fur apparel (1 per cent). The index for ‘Manufacture of Textiles’ sub-group also declined by 0.8 per cent to 118.3 from 119.3 for the previous month due to lower price of texturised and twisted yarn, weaving & finishing of textiles, cotton yarn, manufacture of other textiles and synthetic yarn (1 per cent each). The index for primary articles (weight 22.62 per cent) rose by 1.3 per cent to 143.9 from 142.1 for the previous month. On the other hand, the index for fuel and power (weight 13.15 per cent) rose by 0.1 per cent to 100.7 from 100.6 for the previous month due to higher price of bitumen, furnace oil, ATF and kerosene. However, prices of LPG and petroleum coke declined. Meanwhile, the all-India consumer price index (CPI) on base 2012=100 stood at 3.21 (provisional) in August 2019 compared to 3.15 (final) in July 2019 and 3.69 in August 2018, according to the Central Statistics Office, ministry of statistics and programme implementation.
