Wholesale inflation falls sharply to 6.16% in December

The wholesale inflation fell sharply in December following a nearly 30 per cent fall in vegetable prices prices. The easing inflation would provide some relief to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which faces the delicate task of combating inflation without hurting economic growth.

The wholesale price index, which measures India's benchmark inflation, eased to 6.16 per cent in December as compared to 7.52 per cent in November.

Inflation data showed vegetable prices fell 29.9 per cent in December as compared to the previous month. The overall food articles index fell 6.4 per cent.

RBI chief Raghuram Rajan left the lending rates unchanged last month but warned of another hike if prices did not moderate substantially. He is due to review monetary policy on January 28.

A Prasanna, chief economist at ICICI Securities,  says the RBI is most likely to keep its rates steady at its next policy meet.