By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, JAN 14, 2021: INDIA'S wholesale price-based inflation slowed fell to 1.22% in December 2020 from 1.55% in the previous month, on the back of easing food prices, as per government data released today.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry released the provisional report on inflation based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for December 2020 and the final data for October 2020.

"The rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at (1.22%) (provisional) for the month of December, 2020 (over December, 2019) as compared to (2.76%) during the corresponding month of the previous year," according to the official statement.

The WPI Food Index also fell from 4.27% in November 2020 to 0.92% in December, as vegetables and pulses became cheaper.

The WPI inflation for primary articles index declined by 3.11% in December, while fuel and power index increased by 3.18%, compared to November.

Manufactured products saw the WPI inflation increase 1.4%, with 16 of the 22 groups of products such as furniture, transport equipment, computers, electronics and others, witnessing a price-hike.

Retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) had also dropped sharply to 4.59% in December after hitting 6.93% in the previous months, mainly due to food prices.

With both CPI and WPI easing, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it would restore normal liquidity operations in a phased manner to change its accommodative monetary policy posture.