India’s Falling Wholesale Prices Add Room to Spur Growth
- Data Friday showed retail inflation easing to 18-month low
- Manufacturers haven’t fully passed on low raw material costs
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India’s wholesale prices contracted for the first time in almost three years after global commodity prices softened, bringing down input costs for producers.
Wholesale price index declined 0.92% in April from a year earlier, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement Monday. That compares with a 1.34% rise in March and the median estimate of a 0.40% drop in a Bloomberg survey. The decline is primarily contributed by fall in prices of basic metals, food products, mineral oils and textiles, among others, the ministry said.