ECONOMIC NOTES

EPW Research Foundation

Inflation with Disinflation?

A major feature of the differences

between the two price indices has been
the negative trends in WPI. Interestingly,
not a single group of CPI has slipped to
negative territory in the recent period
(Annexure I, p 126).

Decoding Indias Inflation Indices

Tulsi Lingareddy

Methodological Differences

122

Compositional Differences: A prominent

difference between the two indices is with
respect to housing and other services. WPI
is a commodity price index and services
are not included, whereas CPI covers them
Table 1: Major Distinguishing Characteristics of
WPI and CPI
Particulars

WPI

CPI (Rural
+ Urban)
200405
2012

Base Year

APRIL 30, 2016

vol lI no 18

EPW

Jan 16

Jul 15

Oct 15

Apr 15

Jan 15

Oct 14

Jul 14

Apr 14

Jan 14

Oct 13

Jul 13

Apr 13

Jan 13

Oct 12

The annual (calendar year) rates of Price quotations/markets

5,482
2,295
inflation, as measured by the all-com- Items/commodities in the basket
676
299
modities index of WPI and CPI (rural + Weights (%)
Food and beverages
24.55 45.54*
urban), had remained high at above 6%
Fuel group
14.91
6.84
since the introduction of the new CPI in
Petroleum oils in fuel group
9.36
1.84
2011 to mid-2014.
Non-food manufactured products 54.76
23.86
The two inflation indices have moved
Minerals and non-food
together till October 2014, but thereafter
primary articles
5.78
NA
they started moving in opposite directions. Housing and other services
NA
23.76
As a result, the gap between the two infla- * Excluding the weight of grinding charges (0.32%);
tion indices has increased rather sharply NA indicates not available.
Source: Compiled from the reports published on websites
from then onwards (Figure 1), and peaked www.mospi.nic.in and www.eaindustry.nic.in.
at 9.01 percentage Figure 1: Trends in Inflation Series and Deviation
points in September 12
CPI
Deviation
2015. After that, the 9
gap between the
6
WPI
two inflation indices started narrow- 3
ing down; the WPI- 0
based inflation rate -3
changed course and -6
trended
upwards
but still remained in Source: Compiled based on data extracted from the websites www.eaindustry.nic.in and
www.mospi.nic.in.
the negative zone.
Jul 12

Tulsi Lingareddy (tulsi_lr@hotmail.com) is

with EPW Research Foundation, Mumbai.

Before tracing the sources of divergence

in terms of groups and subgroups, it is
imperative to take note of the methodological differences in the way the two
indices are constructed (Table 1). There
have always been significant structural
dissimilarities between the WPI and CPI
with respect to a number of factors
(EPWRF 1993). The major differences are
(i) composition of product groups and subgroups, (ii) allocation of weights, and
(iii) sample differences in price quotations.

Recent Trends in Inflation

Apr 12

The author wishes to thank S L Shetty for his

insightful comments and useful suggestions.
The author also wishes to thank J Dennis
Rajakumar for his suggestions.

ndias inflation, with diverging trends

between Wholesale Price Index (WPI)
and Consumer Price Index (CPI), has
become an important issue of debate
over recent months. As per the latest
data available for February 2016, the
WPI-based inflation has remained negative for the 16th month in a row at -0.9%,
while CPI-based inflation has continued
to be positive at 5.2%.1
Although the divergence in inflation
between the consumer and wholesale
price indices is not unprecedented, it
reached a peak of 9.1 percentage points
in September 2015, the highest since the
introduction of the new CPI in 2011
(Annexure III, p 127). In this context, an
attempt is made to explore the sources of
the deviations and divergence of inflation based on different price indices.

Jan 12

Price inflation in India as

measured by the Wholesale
Price Index and the Consumer
Price Index has shown diverging
trends. While WPI indicates a
disinflationary situation for 16
months, CPI indicates inflation.
Explaining the construction
of the two indices, the trends
of subgroups of both indices
are presented. It is found that
the different sample sizes and
weightages of commodity
groups of both indices and price
interventions in the market
explains, at least in part, this odd
situation of inflation along with
disinflation.

Economic & Political Weekly

ECONOMIC NOTES

EPW Research Foundation

Figure 2: Inflation in Food and Beverages

Figure 3: Trend in Fuel Inflation

20

27

Fuel power light

and lubricants

16

18

12

-9
WPI

Fuel and light

Source: Same as Figure 1.

Oct 15

Jul 15

Apr 15

Jan 15

Oct 14

Jul 14

Jan 14

Apr 14

Jul 13

Oct 13

Jan 13

Apr 13

Jul 12

Oct 12

Jan 12

Apr 12

Deviation in fuel

Source: Same as Figure 1.

to the extent they fall into the household consumption basket (24% weight).
Allocation of Weights: CPI is dominated
by food products, while WPI is dominated
by non-food manufactured products. Food
and beverages contribute nearly 46% of
weight in CPI, while it accounts for about
25% of weight in WPI. On the other hand,
non-food manufactured products constitute nearly 55% of total weight in WPI
and about 24% of weight in CPI.
In case of the fuel group, the weight of
mineral oils is much higher at 9.36% in
WPI, while it is 1.84% in CPI. Further, the
weight of all major petroleum products
across all groups in WPI accounts for about
19.25%, whereas it is only 4.6% in CPI.2
Sample Price Quotations: Even though
the total number of price quotations is
5,482 in WPI, the number of quotations
with respect to individual items is less than
10 for a majority of items. In CPI, price data
is collected from 2,295 markets (1,114
rural and 1,181 urban) for selected items
depending on their availability. While it
is difficult to propose statistically how the
sample size differences have contributed
to the deviations in price index estimation, it is very likely that they would
have so affected the inflation measures.
Trends in Comparable Groups
Food and Beverages: Despite persistence
of some degree of difference, the inflation
series of food and beverages have been
trending in the same direction without
any considerable divergence over the
past four years.
In fact, food and beverages is the only
major group in WPI that has been witnessing rise in prices at 2.7% with about
Economic & Political Weekly

Jan 16

Jul 15

Oct 15

Jan 15

Apr 15

Oct 14

Jul 14

Jan 14

Apr 14

Jul 13

Oct 13

Jan 13

Apr 13

-27
Oct 12

-4
Jul 12

-18
Jan 12

0
Apr 12

Inflation WPI/CPI

CPI

EPW

APRIL 30, 2016

30% weighted positive contribution to

total inflation (which was negative 2.7%)
in WPI during 2015. While it has contributed for 50% of total inflation (which
was positive 4.9%) in CPI (Table 2). These
data show that the inflation in food and
beverages has apparently contributed for
some amount of the wide gap between the
two inflation series witnessed during
2015 (Figure 2).
Fuel Inflation: Trends in fuel inflation
in both the series are falling till December 2014 but thereafter the fuel inflation based on CPI started firming up
while that based on WPI has continued to
fall rather steeply. As a result of the
contrasting trends, the gap between the
two fuel inflation series has increased
rather sharply and reached about 23% in
September 2015 (Figure 3).
In addition, the divergence in annual
inflation rates of fuel group in 2015 at
17.9% (-12.6% in WPI and 5.3% in CPI)
reiterates that the fuel group has been
the major source of divergence between
the two inflation series.
There are two important reasons for the
diverging trends in fuel inflation. First,
the compositional differences between
the two price indices as noted earlier

and second, not fully passing-on the fall

in petroleum prices to consumers (price
intervention).
(i) Compositional Differences: Mineral
oils account for 63% of the fuel groups
weight (9.4% out of 14.9%) in WPI,
whereas it accounts for about 27% of
fuel and light group (1.84% out of
6.84%) in CPI. As a result, the steep fall
in petroleum oil prices has not been
reflected in the fall in fuel and light
groups inflation of CPI. In addition,
other fuel items in CPI basket such as
dung cakes and firewood and chips (with
2.5% weight) have witnessed a sharp
increase in their inflation during 2015.
(ii) Intervention: Inflation of all the
components in the fuel group in CPI
have remained positive with the exception of diesel. In contrast, the inflation
of all continuants of the fuel group in
WPI have remained negative except for
electricity during 2015. The drastic fall
in prices of crude petroleum is not
reflected in case of CPI-based inflation
of other petroleum products such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene, and it remained positive during
2015 (Table 2 and Annexure II, p 126).

Table 2: Weighted Contribution of Selected Products to Total Inflation in 2015

Groups/Subgroups

Food and beverages group

Fuel group
Mineral (petroleum) oils
Non-food manufactured products
Minerals and non-food primary articles
Housing and other services
All commodities
Differential contribution
All petroleum and products
All metallic minerals, metals and products

WPI

Weights
CPI

WPI

Inflation
CPI

Weighted Contribution
WPI
CPI

24.6
14.9
9.4
54.8
5.8
NA
100

45.5
6.8
1.8
23.9
NA
23.8
100

2.7
-12.6
-19.4
-1.1
-10.7
NA
-2.7

5.3
5.3
1.7
3.5
NA
5.4
4.9

29.6
-80.3
-85
-18.2
-30.9
0
100

50.4
7.2
0.6
16.2
0
25.7
100

19.3
11.2

4.6
1.19

-15.6
-6.6

-4.3
-6.6

-119.5
-26.5

-3.7
-1.3

Source: Same as Figure 1.

vol lI no 18

123

ECONOMIC NOTES

EPW Research Foundation

Figure 4: Clothing and Footwear

Figure 5: Pan, Tobacco and Intoxicants

15

20
ClothingCPI

10

WPI

16

FootwearCPI

CPI

12

5
8
0

4
TextilesWPI

Source: Same as Figure 1.

Source: Same as Figure 1.

Figure 6: Housing and Miscallaneous Groups

Figure 7: Inflation in Miscellaneous Group

16

16

12

12

Jan 16

Sep 15

May 15

Jan 15

Sep 14

May 14

Jan 14

Sep 13

May 13

Jan 13

Sep 12

May 12

Jan 12

Jan 16

Sep 15

0
May 15

Jan 15

May 14

Jan 14

Sep 13

May 13

Jan 13

Sep 12

May 12

Jan 12

Sep 14

Leather footwearWPI

-5

Personal care and effects

Household goods and services
Education

8
Housing

WPI

Miscellaneous

CPI

4
Health

-4

-8

-4

Source: Same as Figure 1.

The apparent trends suggest that the

steep fall in petroleum prices has not
been passed on to consumers in 2015, as
prices of LPG and kerosene are not
deregulated yet. The steep 50% fall in
petroleum subsidies from `60,268 crore
in 201415 to `30,000 crore in 201516 as
indicated by Budget 201617 documents
confirms the same.

Clothing and Footwear: Trends in

index of clothing and footwear in CPI is
compared with closely-related indices
available in WPI such as textiles and
leather footwear to see their general
trends and behaviour during the study
period, as there are no other identical
items available in the WPI basket for
comparison.
The trends indicated that while the CPIbased inflation in clothing and footwear
has slowed at a steady pace, WPI-based
inflation in textiles and leather footwear
124

Jan 16

Oct 15

Jul 15

Jan 15

Apr 15

Oct 14

Jul 14

Jan 14

Apr 14

Oct 13

Jul 13

Source: Same as Figure 1.

has dipped steeply from April 2014

onwards, and subsequently slipped to
negative territory in 2015 (Figure 4).
Thus, there has been significant deviation
in inflation of clothing and footwear at
about 5%6%, which apparently, could
have added to the gap between the two
main inflation series.
Trends in Non-comparable Groups

Pan, Tobacco and Intoxicants: This

group has only 1.37% and 2.38% weight in
WPI and CPI respectively, and witnessed
slightly diverging trends since January
2015 as their WPI-based inflation fell
steeply, while their CPI-based inflation
firmed up marginally (Figure 5).

Apr 13

Jan 13

Oct 12

Jul 12

Apr 12

Recreation and amusement

Jan 12

Oct 15

Jul 15

Apr 15

Jan 15

Oct 14

Jul 14

Jan 14

Apr 14

Oct 13

Jul 13

Jan 13

Apr 13

Oct 12

Jul 12

Apr 12

Jan 12

Transport and communication

As discussed in the initial section, there

are some products which are exclusively
present in each index. In CPI, those
include charges of housing and other
services largely covered under miscellaneous group. In WPI, they include nonfood manufactured products and minerals. Trends in these items are explored to
identify further sources of deviation
and/or divergence between the two
inflation series.
Housing Inflation in CPI: Housing index
is available only in CPI, accounting for
10.07% of total weight in CPI. Inflation in
housing has started slipping slowly from
7.15% in April 2014 to 4.44% in July 2015
and firmed up marginally thereafter
(Figure 6). Nevertheless, it has remained
above 4%, contributing to the relatively
high CPI-based inflation during 2015.

Miscellaneous Items in CPI: The miscellaneous group contains six subgroups

of various products and services. Among
the six, transport and communication
has the largest weight of 8.59% and
contains petrol and diesel for vehicles
with a weight of 2.33%. As a result, it
has witnessed a steep fall from mid-2014,
and is the only subgroup in CPI that has
registered a fall in its index during 2015,
though only for a few months (Figure 7).
Performance of personal care and
effects index has been relatively more
volatile among the subgroups of the
miscellaneous group. Its inflation rate
has declined from 5.4% in July 2014 to
0.93% in November 2014; thereafter it
has started moving up but remained
relatively volatile. Gold accounting for
the largest weight (1.08%) together
with silver (0.12%) have been largely
responsible for the apparent falling
trends witnessed during 2014 in this
subgroup.
However, index of education with
around 5.89% weight in CPI has posted
firm inflation trends in the range of
7%8% from January 2013 to June 2015
and thereafter drifted slightly down to
6%6.5%. Inflation in health and household goods and services has slowed to

APRIL 30, 2016

vol lI no 18

EPW

Economic & Political Weekly

ECONOMIC NOTES

EPW Research Foundation

Figure 9: Inflation in Manufactured Products in WPI

Figure 8: Inflation in Minerals in WPI

15

75

WPI

Other minerals

Leather and leather products

50

10

25

0
0
-25

Man-made textiles
-5

Crude petroleum

Source: Same as Figure 1.

Jan 16

Oct 15

Jul 15

Apr 15

Jan 15

Jul 14

Oct 14

Jan 14

Apr 14

Jul 13

Oct 13

Jan 13

Apr 13

Jul 12

Oct 12

Jan 12

Apr 12

-75

-10

Plastic products

Basic metals, alloys and products

Basic organic chemicals

Jan 12
Mar 12
May 12
Jul 12
Sep 12
Nov 12
Jan 13
Mar 13
May 13
Jul 13
Sep 13
Nov 13
Jan 14
Mar 14
May 14
Jul 14
Sep 14
Nov 14
Jan 15
Mar 15
May 15
Jul 15
Sep 15
Nov 15
Jan 16

Metallic minerals
-50

Source: Same as Figure 1.

below 4% towards the end of 2014, but

firmed up marginally in the subsequent
months and remained in the range of
5%6% through 2015.
Thus, among six, transport and communication, and personal care and
effects have indicated a fall in their
inflation while others have witnessed
more or less steady trends contributing
to the high inflation in CPI, particularly
during 2015.
Minerals in WPI: The minerals subgroup
in WPI comprises crude petroleum,
metallic minerals, and other minerals.
Inflation of crude petroleum and metallic
minerals have largely been moving in
line with the trends in all-commodities
index, while inflation of other minerals

has also moderated in 2015 but at a slow

pace (Figure 8).
Non-food Manufactures in WPI: Most
of the subgroups among non-food manufactured products witnessed a dip in
inflation into negative territory during
2015 except for wood and wood products, paper and paper products and
non-metallic minerals. Nevertheless,
the inflation of the latter two has moderated to a considerable level in 2015,
but remained positive.
Further examination of trends in the
indices of other non-food manufactured
products indicated that basic metals
alloys and metal products, basic organic
chemicals in chemicals and chemical
products, man-made textiles in textiles,

plastic products in rubber and plastic

products, and leather and leather products have witnessed a significant fall in
inflation into negative territory (Figure 9).
Contributions of Selected Products
After examining the sources of deviation
in product groups and subgroups, we
attempt to compile aggregate indices of
the related products across the groups
using their respective weights in the
corresponding price series and study
their weighted contribution to inflation.
Non-food Manufactures: This aggregate
index is compiled adding all manufactured
products with their respective weights
except food and beverages, fuel and light
and all services in case of CPI. Similarly,

Journal Rank of EPW

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Scopus has indexed research papers that have been published in EPW from 2008 onwards.
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Presented below are EPWs ranks in 2014 in India, Asia and globally, according to the total cites (3 years) indicator.

Highest among 36 Indian social science journals and highest among 159 social science journals ranked in Asia.

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Between 2008 and 2014, EPWs citations in three categories (Economics, Econometrics, and Finance; Political Science and International
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Economic & Political Weekly

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APRIL 30, 2016

vol lI no 18

125

ECONOMIC NOTES

in case of WPI it is compiled from manufactured products group, excluding food

products and non-alcoholic beverages.
The index, with 54.76% weight in
WPI, has registered -18% weighted contribution to WPI-based inflation, while it
has 16% weighted contribution to inflation based on CPI (with 24% weight) in
2015 (Table 2).
Petroleum and Products: As discussed
earlier, total weight of petroleum and its
products is about 19.25% in WPI and about
4.6% in CPI. In addition, the steep fall in
prices of crude petroleum has not been
passed on to consumers in case of LPG and
kerosene. As a result, the weighted contribution of petroleum products is nearly
120% in case of WPI whereas only -3.7% in
case of CPI in 2015.
Moreover, historical trends in inflation
over the past four decades displayed
divergence between the wholesale and
consumer price indices at frequent intervals, and a majority of those instances
coincided with steep fluctuations in fuel
price inflation (Annexure III).
Metals and Products: Similarly, metallic minerals, metals and their products
included under primary articles and
basic metals subgroup in WPI together
contributed (weighted) for about 26.5%
of inflation in WPI in 2015 (Table 2).
Individual metal products in CPI could
be taken only in terms of gold and silver,
which accounted for only 1.19% of total
weight. As a result, although the rate of
inflation is the same at -6.6% in both the
series, the groups weighted contribution
stood different at -26.5% to WPI-based inflation against -1.3% to CPI-based inflation.

EPW Research Foundation

The significant increase in deviation

between the two inflation indices during the recent period has apparently
been the result of differences in composition in terms products and their
weights in the commodity baskets of
WPI and CPI.
Divergence in inflation was caused by
a steep fall in prices of petroleum and
metals, whose contribution is significantly larger in WPI than in CPI.
In addition, the inflation of petroleum
products like LPG and kerosene in CPI
(except for diesel and petrol) have
remained positive during 2015, suggesting that the fall in prices of petroleum
has not been fully passed on to consumers. To that extent, the amount of petroleum subsidies has reduced to half in
201516 from 201415.
Services with a relatively high inflation
rate at above 5% in 2015 have a weighted
contribution of about 25% to CPI, but nil
to WPI.
Further, non-food manufactured products also witnessed differential trends
across two indices with negative trends
in WPI and positive in CPI.
Only the food products group has
registered similar positive trends in both
series though with a noticeable gap.
In addition, it is observed that WPIbased inflation is more volatile than that
based on CPI with respect to most of

Conclusions
An overview of the trends observed in
inflation based on WPI and CPI have
brought out the following conclusions:
126

notes
1

All inflation rates are calculated year-on-year,

that is, percentage change between the current
month/period over the corresponding month/
period of the previous year.
Total weight of petroleum and its products
including mineral oils (9.4%) in fuel group,
crude petroleum (0.9%) under minerals in
primary articles group and manufactured
products like manmade textiles (2.2%), plastics
and synthetic rubber (2.5%), basic organic
chemicals (1.95%) and other petroleum-based
chemicals (2.43%) under basic chemicals and
chemical products account for about 19.25% of
total WPI weight. In case of CPI, diesel and
petrol for vehicles and lubricants under transport and communications (2.4%) and plastic
products (0.4%) in miscellaneous group
together with petroleum products in fuel group
(1.8%) in miscellaneous account for about
4.6%% of total weight in CPI.

Reference
EPWRF (1993): Wholesale and Consumer Prices
Special Statistics-3, Economic & Political Weekly,
Vol 28, No 38, pp 201619.

Annexure I: Trends in Annual Inflation and Weighted Contribution

Weight

Annual Average Inflation

2012
2013
2014

2015

(%)
Weighted Contribution to Inflation
2012
2013
2014
2015

WPI
All commodities

100

7.5

6.3

3.8

-2.7

100

100

100

Primary articles

20.1

9.1

10.6

4.4

-0.19

31.1

44.0

31.9

-1.9

Fuel and power

14.9

11.7

9.9

4.8

-12.6

24.7

25.9

21.7

-80.3

65

5.7

3.3

3.2

-0.86

44.2

30.0

46.3

-17.6

24.6

8.1

10.4

5.0

2.7

29.7

45.7

38.4

29.6

Manufactured products
Food and beverages

All Services (in CPI): Various services in

CPI, including housing, are combined
using their respective weights and an
index for services is compiled. The inflation of services stood at 5.4% with its
weighted contribution of 25.7% to total
inflation of CPI in 2015, whereas its representation or contribution to WPI is zero.

items, plausibly, owing to the relatively

small sample size.
Thus, a large extent of the divergence
or gap between the two inflation indices
observed in 2015 was on account of the
compositional differences particularly in
fuel and manufactured products, exclusion of services, and to some extent due
to price intervention. Thus, the increases
in cost of living in the economy have
actually remained high (5%) during
2015 when the WPI-based inflation
reflects a deflationary situation.

CPI
All commodities
Food and beverages
Pan, tobacco, and
intoxicants
Clothing and footwear
Housing

100

100

9.4

9.9

6.6

4.9

100

100

100

100

45.86

9.3

12.9

7.1

5.3

45.4

58.2

53.0

50.9

2.38
6.53

12.1
13.1

9.5
10.0

7.9
7.9

9.3
6.0

3.0
8.8

2.3
6.6

2.8
7.7

4.6
8.2
9.6

10.07

9.2

8.1

6.1

4.8

9.9

8.2

9.1

Fuel and light

6.84

10.2

8.5

4.6

5.3

7.4

5.9

4.7

7.2

Miscellaneous

28.32

8.5

6.7

5.4

3.5

25.8

19.3

22.4

19.2

Deviation: CPIWPI
All commodities

1.9

3.6

2.8

7.6

Food and beverages

1.2

2.5

2.5

Fuel group

-1.5

-1.4

-0.2

17.9

Source: Same as Figure 1.

APRIL 30, 2016

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EPW Research Foundation

Annexure II: Inflation in Major Fuel Items of WPI and CPI
Electricity

WPI

25

15
0

Sep 15

Jan 16

Sep 15

Jan 16

Jan 15

May 15

Sep 14

Jan 14

May 14

Sep 13

Jan 13

Others Fuels in CPI

CPI

Dung cake

15
10
5

May 15

Jan 15

Sep 14

May 14

Jan 14

Sep 13

May 13

Jan 13

Sep 12

Firewood and chips

Jan 12

Jan 16

Sep 15

May 15

Jan 15

Sep 14

May 14

Jan 14

Sep 13

May 13

Jan 13

Sep 12

WPI
Jan 12

Jan 16

Sep 15

May 15

Jan 15

Sep 14

Jan 14

May 13

Sep 12

Jan 12

Jan 16

Sep 15

Jan 15

May 15

Sep 14

Jan 14

WPI

20

May 12

50
40
30
20
10
0
-10

CPI

May 14

Sep 13

May 13

Jan 13

Sep 12

-15

Coal

LPG
WPI

Jan 12

May 14

Sep 13

Jan 13

May 13

Sep 12

Jan 12

May 12

Jan 16

Sep 15

Jan 15

May 15

Sep 14

Jan 144

-5

-30
May 14

Sep 13

Jan 13

May 13

Sep 12

Jan 12

May 12

CPI

-15

May 12

CPI (PDS)

15

May 12

CPI

30
20
10
0
-10
-20

Kerosene
CPI (Open market)

Diesel
30

WPI

May 12

25
20
15
10
5
0

Weights in WPIelectricity domestic: 0.91%, diesel: 4.79%, kerosene: 0.74%, LPG: 0.92%, coal: 2.09%. Weights in CPIelectricity: 2.26%, diesel: 0.0024%, kerosene (PDS): 0.34%,
kerosene (others): 0.21%, LPG: 1.29%, coal: 0.04%, firewood and chips: 2.07%, dung cake: 0.44%.
Source: Compiled based on data extracted from the websites www.eaindustry.nic.in and www.mospi.nic.in.

Annexure III: Historical Trends in Wholesale vs Consumer Price Inflation

Trends in Inflation of WPI and CPIIW
25

20
CPIIW
15
WPI
10

Jan 15

Oct 13

Jul 12

Apr 11

Jan 10

Oct 08

Jul 07

Apr 06

Jan 05

Oct 03

Jul 02

Apr 01

Jan 00

Oct 98

Jul 97

Apr 96

Jan 95

Oct 93

Jul 92

Apr 91

Jan 90

Oct 88

Jul 87

Apr 86

Jan 85

Oct 83

Jul 82

Apr 81

Jan 80

-5

Inflation Deviation vs Fuel Inflation

16

40

11

30
Fuel power light and lubricants

Fuel inflation

Jan 16

Sep 14

May 13

Jan 12

Sep 10

May 09

Jan 08

Sep 06

May 05

Jan 04

Sep 02

May 01

Jan 00

Sep 98

May 97

Jan 96

Sep 94

May 93

-20
Jan 92

-14
Sep 90

-10

May 89

-9

Jan 88

Sep 86

-4

May 85

10

Jan 84

Sep 82

20

May 81

Jan 80

Deviation in inflation

Difference

Source: Compiled based on data extracted from the websites www.eaindustry.nic.in, www.mospi.nic.in and www.rbi.org.in.
Economic & Political Weekly

EPW

APRIL 30, 2016

vol lI no 18

127