Construction Industry News
India's annual wholesale price inflation, a measure of producer prices, accelerated to a five-month high in October, fueled by increases in fuel and producer prices, fueling concerns about mounting inflationary pressures on businesses.
The gap between retail and wholesale price-based inflation has widened in recent months as many companies and retailers are still trying to absorb the galloping input costs that threaten to hit their profits.
Annual wholesale price inflation rose to 12.54% in October from 10.66% the previous month, and remained in double digits for the seventh straight month, government data showed on Monday.
The previous consumer price-based metric, the main metric monitored by the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy committee, rose 4.48% in October from the same month last year, accelerating higher than the 4.35% of the previous year. September, separate data released on Friday shows.
Economists said the government's recent cut in fuel taxes could ease pressure on households and businesses in the near term, but companies are trying to pass on the rising costs as domestic demand picks up.
In the April-June quarter, the economy grew an annual 20.1%, and the central bank expects GDP to expand 9.5% in the current fiscal year ending in March 2022.
Wholesale fuel and power prices rose 37.18% year-on-year in October, compared to 24.81% in September, while manufactured product prices rose 12.04% compared to 11.41% in the previous month, as evidenced by data.
Wholesale food prices rose 3.06% in October from a year earlier, compared to 1.14% in the previous month.
The RBI's Monetary Policy Committee is expected to meet from December 6-8 and is expected to leave the repo rate unchanged at 4%.
