New Delhi, Sep 17 (IANS): India's wholesale price inflation further eased to a four-month low of 1.31 per cent in the month of August, compared to 2.04 per cent in July, as fuel prices turned negative and food prices went down, the government said on Tuesday.

The Food Index -- consisting of 'food articles' from primary articles group and 'food product' from manufactured products group -- decreased from 195.4 (provisional) in July to 193.2 in August.

The annual rate of inflation based on WPI Food Index decreased from 3.55 per cent in July to 3.26 per cent in August, as per data from Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Index for Primary Articles declined by 1.37 per cent to 194.9 in August from 197.6 for the month of July.

Prices of minerals (-2.66 per cent), crude petroleum and natural gas (-1.84 per cent) and food articles (-1.83 per cent) decreased in August as compared to July. The Price of non-food articles (1.65 per cent) went up in August.

The WPI index for fuel and power increased by 0.14 per cent to 148.1 in August from 147.9 for July, 2024. Price of electricity (1.59 per cent) increased while price of mineral oils (-0.32 per cent) decreased. The price of coal witnessed no change in August, according to the data.

The index for manufactured products declined by 0.07 per cent to 141.6 in August from 141.7 in July.

For the month of June, the final Wholesale Price Index and inflation rate for 'All Commodities' stood at 154.0 and 3.43 per cent, respectively.

The data, however, attributed the 'positive rate' of inflation in August primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, processed food products, other manufacturing, manufacture of textiles and manufacture of machinery and equipment, etc.

In August, India's retail inflation was 3.65 per cent but remained below the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) target of 4 per cent. The RBI has fixed a mid-term target of 4 per cent for retail inflation before it goes in for a cut in interest rates to rev up growth.