Commodities

er

Prices and Monetary Management

75
Table 4.2: Annual Average Inflation by Major Heads in WPI
(per cent)
Weight 2005-06

2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10

2010-11
(Apr.Jan.)

2011-12
(Apr.Jan.)P

100.00
20.12
14.34
4.26
1.52
14.91
2.09
9.36
3.45

4.47
4.30
5.38
-3.32
15.15
13.58
17.60
16.73
2.57

6.59
9.62
9.62
5.80
18.64
6.46
0.09
9.14
2.66

4.74
8.33
6.97
11.86
11.84
0.03
3.38
-0.90
0.84

8.05
11.05
9.09
12.87
22.08
11.57
24.30
12.35
0.19

3.80
12.66
15.27
5.47
8.79
-2.11
3.43
-4.29
0.96

9.55
18.41
16.75
20.49
26.74
12.24
5.07
16.03
5.74

9.11
9.91
7.15
12.27
24.15
13.67
13.26
17.12
1.17

64.97
9.97

2.42
1.19

5.66
5.29

4.78
3.54

6.16
8.69

2.22
13.49

5.46
4.26

7.58
7.35

allic mineral products

Basic
alloys &6.52
products9.52
Machinery
Transport, equipment/parts
1.76
4.66metals,
5.10
6.11& machine
7.08 tools
11.81
7.33
-1.06
1.88
0.73
1.62
3.43
11.05
9.51
0.59

5.74

5.84

6.69

9.49

9.60

4.03

8.00

2.03

3.63

4.60

2.96

4.20

2.20

4.84

5.94

0.84

4.25

7.95

3.06

5.47

4.93

-0.92

1.76

2.99

1.91

5.61

4.28

4.53

0.74

5.98

6.82

12.02

3.79

4.96

3.57

4.64

-0.26

5.00

8.74

2.56

3.41

11.58

11.19

2.63

6.97

2.59

5.52

10.75

2.23

9.28

10.29

11.96

-6.12

8.10

11.12

8.93

3.58

6.31

3.65

2.89

0.46

2.73

3.11

5.21

2.69

2.22

2.47

5.36

3.08

2.96

3.54

Source : OEA, DIPP.

P: Provisional

CH A N G E I N RE P O R T I N G
IN F L A T I O N

OF

4.6 At present the WPI for all commodities including

manufactured products is released only on a
monthly basis. However, until recently WPI for
primary articles and the fuel group was also being
released on a weekly basis. This practice was
intended to help in analysing the trends for policymaking as these commodities are essential in
nature. But it was observed over a period of time
that there was a tendency for upward revisions in
the indices reported once the final numbers were
later released. The higher frequency weekly reporting
was thus prone to more statistical 'noise' and

sometimes provided a misleading picture, so the

trade-off was between the more frequent and less
reliable data and less frequent but more reliable data.
International practice for reporting CPI inflation is
also on a monthly basis.
4.7 In view of this, the Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs (CCEA) in its meeting held on 24
January 2012, agreed to discontinue the weekly
release of WPI for the commodities/items under the
groups 'primary articles' and 'fuel and power' with
immediate effect. The last weekly WPI for the week
ending 14 January 2012 was released on 27 January
2012. WPI shall, henceforth, be released on a
monthly basis only.