India's wholesale inflation drops to lowest level since Jan 2010 to 6.87%

NEW DELHI: The wholesale inflation of India slipped to 6.87 per cent in July which is its lowest level since January 2010.

However, the fuel and food inflation cooled, but a surge in manufacturing prices increased core inflation to around 5.44 per cent from 4.9 percent in June.

As per analysts predication, the wholesale price index (WPI) - India's benchmark inflation gauge – may increase 7.37 per cent in July from a year earlier to pick up from June's increase of 7.25 per cent.

For two-and-half-years, the inflation had stayed above 7 per cent which also confined the Reserve Bank of India from easing monetary policy despite the abrupt slide in economic growth in almost a decade during the January-March quarter.

At the latest review on July 31, RBI left its policy rate on hold at 8 per cent, maintaining that to reduce rates would aggravate inflationary impulses without necessarily stimulating growth.