Coal news and updates

India’s WPI at nine-month high in November

December 16: India’s wholesale price inflation accelerated to a nine-month high in November 2013, according to the provisional Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

According to available data, WPI for November 2013 rose to 7.52% as against 7.00% in October 2013 and 7.24% during the same month a year ago (November 2012).

The build-up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 6.70% compared to a build-up rate of 4.84% in the corresponding period of the previous year, the release said.

Wholesale vegetable prices increased 95.25%, spurred by 16.87% from October 2013, mainly due to increase in onion prices. The wholesale food price inflation rose to 19.93% in November, compared to 18.19% in October.

The index for fuel and power rose by 0.1 percent to 209.6 (provisional) from 209.4 (provisional) for the previous month due to higher prices of LPG (5%), bitumen (2%) and high speed diesel (1%). However, the prices of aviation turbine fuel (5%), petrol and kerosene (2% each) and furnace oil (1%) declined.

Meanwhile, India’s factory output growth slowed to 1.8% in October after expanding 2% in the previous month (September 2013), data released showed, suggesting that economic recovery remains tenuous.