New Delhi: Inflation based on wholesale prices eased marginally to 2.47 percent in March on cheaper food articles, especially pulses and vegetables.
On the basis of Wholesale Price Index (WPI), inflation was 2.48 percent in February and 5.11 percent in March last year.
According to a government data released today, food articles showed deflation at 0.29 percent in March as against a 0.88 percent inflation in the preceding month.
Deflation in vegetables was 2.70 percent, pulses (20.58 percent) and wheat (1.19 percent) in March.
Inflation in ‘fuel and power’ basket however rose to 4.70 percent in March from 3.81 percent in the previous month.
The inflation data for January was revised upwards to 3.02 percent from the provisional estimate of 2.84 percent.
Retail inflation, as per data released last week, slipped to a five-month low of 4.28 percent in March on account of decline in food prices.
In its first monetary policy review for the fiscal, the Reserve Bank earlier this month maintained status-quo on interest rate citing inflationary concerns.
It revised downwards forecast for retail inflation to 4.7-5.1 percent for April-September and 4.4 percent for October-March.
