India's wholesale price index (WPI) rose 0.27% in the 12 months to 14 March 2009, below the previous week's annual rise of 0.44%, government data showed on Thursday, 26 March 2009.
Inflation has fallen sharply in 2009 as commodity prices plunged after the global economic and financial crisis deepened. The annual inflation rate was 8.02% during the corresponding week of the previous year.
The market has been agog with expectations of rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The sharp fall in inflation has provided room for the RBI to cut interest rates further to support faltering economic growth.
While gains in the wholesale-price index (WPI) have slowed, other gauges of inflation that the central bank takes into account when deciding policy are at a decade high. The inflation rate as measured by consumer price index for industrial workers, which seeks to represent the impact of retail prices on the country's workforce, had risen to 10.45% in January 2009, compared to 9.7% in the previous month.
Similarly, consumer price index for urban non-manual employees suggests that the annual rate of inflation in 59 Indian cities had been 9.8% in December 2008, the latest month for which data is available.