Thursday, April 9, 2009

Index Numbers of Wholesale Prices in India (Base: 1993-94=100)Review for the week ended 28th March, 2009

 The official Wholesale Price Index for 'All Commodities' (Base: 1993-94 = 100) for the week ended 28th March 2009 remained unchanged at its previous week’s level of 227.3 (Provisional). 

The annual rate of inflation, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 0.26 percent (Provisional) for the week ended 28/03/2009 (over 29/03/2008) as compared to 0.31 percent (Provisional) for the previous week (ended 21/03/2009) and 7.75 percent during the corresponding week (ended 29/03/2008) of the previous year. 

The movement of the index for the various commodity groups is summarized below:- 

1. PRIMARY ARTICLES (Weight 22.02%) 

The index for this major group declined by 0.3 percent to 245.0 (Provisional) from 245.7 (Provisional) for the previous week. 

The groups and items for which the index showed variations during the week are as follows:- 

The index for ‘Food Articles’ group rose by 0.3 percent to 242.6 (Provisional) from 241.8 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of barley (5%), ragi, bajra and fruits & vegetables (2% each) and maize (1%). However, the prices of tea (1%) declined. 

The index for ‘Non-Food Articles’ group rose by 0.5 percent to 227.0 (Provisional) from 225.8 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of raw rubber (8%), raw cotton (2%) and castor seed and gingelly seed (1% each). However, the prices of linseed (2%) and copra and fodder (1% each) declined. 

The index for ‘Minerals’ group declined by 11.8 percent to 549.2 (Provisional) from 622.6 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of fire clay (19 %), iron ore (14%) and chromite (2%). However, the prices of dolomite (32%), felspar (15%), barytes (3%) and steatite (2%) moved up. 

2. FUEL, POWER, LIGHT & LUBRICANTS (Weight 14.23%) 

The index for this major group remained unchanged at its previous week's level of 320.9 (Provisional). 

3. MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS (Weight 63.75%) 

The index for this major group rose by 0.2 percent to 200.3 (Provisional) from 200.0 (Provisional) for the previous week. The groups and items for which the index showed variations during the week are as follows:- 

The index for 'Food Products' group rose by 0.05 percent to 218.9 (Provisional) from 218.8 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of imported edible oil (6%), malted food and rice bran oil (2% each) and oil cakes, gingelly oil and groundnut oil (1% each). However, the prices of sugar (1%) declined. 

The index for 'Textiles' group rose by 1.2 percent to 140.6 (Provisional) from 138.9 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of cotton yarn-cones, hessian cloth and cotton yarn-'hanks (3% each) and hessian & sacking bags and other cotton yarn (2% each). 

The index for 'Paper & Paper Products' group declined by 0.1 percent to 204.0 (Provisional) from 204.2 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of newsprint (1%). 

The index for 'Chemicals & Chemical Products' group rose by 0.1 percent to 214.0 (Provisional) from 213.8 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of benzene (14%) and purified terephthalic acid (pta) (2%). However, the prices of p.v.c. resins (2%) and pigments (1%) declined. 

The index for 'Machinery & Machine Tools' group rose by 0.2 percent to 172.5 (Provisional) from 172.2 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of enamelled copper wires (9%). 

4. FINAL INDEX FOR THE WEEK ENDED 31st January 2009 

For the week ended 31/01/2009, the final wholesale price index for 'All Commodities’ (Base:1993-94=100) stood at 227.5 as compared to 228.4 (Provisional) and annual rate of inflation based on final index, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 3.98 percent as compared to 4.39 percent (Provisional) reported earlier vide press note dated 12/02/2009

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