Wholesale price-based inflation rate declined by (-) 3.48 per cent in May, a 3-year low, on easing prices of food, fuel and manufactured items. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation rate has been in the negative territory for the second straight month. In April it was (-) 0.92 per cent. In May, 2022 WPI inflation was at 16.63 per cent. The May, 2023 data print of (-) 3.48 per cent...

KEY TRENDS   • Oxfam India's 2023 India Supplement report on poverty and inequality in India reveals that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Following the pandemic in 2019, the bottom 50 per cent of the population have continued to see their wealth chipped away. By 2020, their income share was estimated to have fallen to only 13 per cent of the national income and have less than 3...

The year 2022 was supposed to mark the recovery of the Indian economy from the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns of the preceding two years. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February pushed up prices of food, fuel and fertilizer worldwide. In India consumer price inflation, which had declined to under 5 percent in the September-November period of 2021, has steadily increased, staying above 6 percent throughout 2022.    What happened to rural incomes in 2022? An...

Reuters India is set to produce lesser sugar than previously estimated by industry bodies and government agencies, with the cane crop maturing early and losing weight due to weather conditions in key growing regions, farmers and traders told Reuters. Lower sugar output could prevent the world's second-biggest exporter from allowing additional exports, potentially supporting global prices and helping rivals Brazil and Thailand to increase their shipments. India was estimated to produce 34 to...

Economic Times Unilever global chief executive Alan Jope said high inflation impacted demand from low income consumers in Indian villages even as growth remains stronger in cities. "The market growth in India remains stronger in urban areas than in rural areas and that reflects the high impact of high food inflation on low income consumers. We are seeing rural markets broadly flat in value terms with lower volumes," Jope said during its...