Wholesale price-based inflation endureding the negative zone for the 17th month in a row at (-) 0.85%  in March even as prices of some food articles, mainly pulses, turned costlier.

The March wholesale price index-based inflation was higher than (-)0.91%  in February. In March last year, it was (-) 2.33 %.

In March,according to offcical data which released on Monday ,Food inflation stood at 3.73%  in March compared with 3.35 % in February.

In March,Inflation in vegetables came in at (-)2.26 % while the same in pulses was high at 34.45 %.
Onion and fruits saw easing of prices, with these sub-indices falling by 17.65 % and 2.13 %.

March, the inflation print in the fuel and power segment was (-) 8.30 %, and for manufactured products, it read (-) 0.13 % .
The January WPI inflation has been revised lower to (-) 1.07 % from the provisional estimate of (-) 0.90 %
RBI chiefly seems at retail inflation data although firming up its monetary policy slant. Retail inflation in March fell to a six-month low of 4.83 %.

RBI prior this month slots the vital policy rate by 0.25 % and projected retail inflation to be around 5 % thisfiscal.

It had said, “there were uncertainties over unseasonal rains, the likely spatial and temporal distribution of the monsoon, the low reservoir levels by historical averages, and the strength of the recent upturn in commodity prices, especially oil”

The Met department, meanwhile, next forecast an above-normal monsoon for 2016.