Latest news with #RahulAgrawal
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
UK's Actis Plans to Tap Into Southeast Asia's Clean Energy Drive
UK asset manager Actis GP LLP, which specializes in sustainable infrastructure, plans to double investment in Southeast Asia's renewable sector with a spend of up to $500 million over the next two years. It seeks to expand in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, where demand for clean energy is rising, Rahul Agrawal, partner at Actis and head of energy for Southeast Asia, said in an interview.
Economic Times
14-07-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
WPI inflation falls to a 20-month low of -0.1% in June
ANI Representational image India's wholesale inflation fell to a 20-month low of -0.1% year-on-year in June from 0.4% in May due to decline in food and fuel prices and a moderation in manufactured goods costs, official data released Monday showed. Economists anticipate Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation to remain in negative territory in July, given the ongoing year-on-year deflation in food and crude oil prices. 'Negative rate of inflation in June 2025 is primarily due to decrease in prices of food articles, mineral oils, manufacture of basic metals, crude petroleum & natural gas etc,' said the commerce ministry in a a quarterly basis, average wholesale inflation dropped to a five-quarter low of 0.4% in Q1FY26. 'With the WPI inflation averaging at just 0.4% in Q1FY26 vis-à-vis 2.4% in Q4FY25, we expect the nominal GDP growth to decelerate quite sharply between these quarters,' said Rahul Agrawal, senior economist at ICRA. Official gross domestic product (GDP) data for the June quarter will be released in Jasrai, associate director at India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), said, 'The muted input price growth in the economy would provide support to the corporates in maintaining their margins at a time when industrial output growth has faced deceleration on account of weather vagaries.'Ind-Ra expects wholesale inflation to stay below 0.5% in Q2FY26, amid muted inflation in food and core inflation, which accounts for around one-fourth of the WPI weight, fell to a two-year low of -0.3% in June from 1.7% in contributors to food deflation included onion (-33.5%), potato (-32.7%), vegetables (-22.7%), and pulses (-14.1%). Fruit prices eased to 1.6% year-on-year in June compared to 10.2% in May.'The drop in prices of pulses was due to a robust kharif output,' said in manufactured products, which account for 64.23% weight in the WPI, eased slightly to 1.97% in June from 2.04% in May. Within this category, vegetable & animal oils and fats recorded the highest inflation at 23.1%, followed by food products (7%), and tobacco products (2.8%).Inflation in primary articles and fuel & power contracted by 3.4% and 2.7%, respectively.'The fuel & power and crude petroleum and natural gas prices declined during June due to benign global commodity prices,' said Jasrai.
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
WPI inflation falls to a 20-month low of -0.1% in June
India's wholesale inflation fell to a 20-month low of -0.1% year-on-year in June from 0.4% in May due to decline in food and fuel prices and a moderation in manufactured goods costs , official data released Monday showed. Economists anticipate Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation to remain in negative territory in July, given the ongoing year-on-year deflation in food and crude oil prices. 'Negative rate of inflation in June 2025 is primarily due to decrease in prices of food articles, mineral oils, manufacture of basic metals, crude petroleum & natural gas etc,' said the commerce ministry in a statement. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Villas For Sale in Dubai Might Surprise You Dubai villas | search ads Get Deals Undo On a quarterly basis, average wholesale inflation dropped to a five-quarter low of 0.4% in Q1FY26. 'With the WPI inflation averaging at just 0.4% in Q1FY26 vis-à-vis 2.4% in Q4FY25, we expect the nominal GDP growth to decelerate quite sharply between these quarters,' said Rahul Agrawal, senior economist at ICRA . Live Events Official gross domestic product (GDP) data for the June quarter will be released in August. Paras Jasrai, associate director at India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), said, 'The muted input price growth in the economy would provide support to the corporates in maintaining their margins at a time when industrial output growth has faced deceleration on account of weather vagaries.' Ind-Ra expects wholesale inflation to stay below 0.5% in Q2FY26, amid muted inflation in food and core items. Food inflation, which accounts for around one-fourth of the WPI weight, fell to a two-year low of -0.3% in June from 1.7% in May. Major contributors to food deflation included onion (-33.5%), potato (-32.7%), vegetables (-22.7%), and pulses (-14.1%). Fruit prices eased to 1.6% year-on-year in June compared to 10.2% in May. 'The drop in prices of pulses was due to a robust kharif output,' said Jasrai. Inflation in manufactured products, which account for 64.23% weight in the WPI, eased slightly to 1.97% in June from 2.04% in May. Within this category, vegetable & animal oils and fats recorded the highest inflation at 23.1%, followed by food products (7%), and tobacco products (2.8%). Inflation in primary articles and fuel & power contracted by 3.4% and 2.7%, respectively. 'The fuel & power and crude petroleum and natural gas prices declined during June due to benign global commodity prices,' said Jasrai.
Mint
14-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Wholesale inflation turns negative, hits 21-month low in June
India's wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation fell to a 21-month low of -0.13% in June, marking the first negative reading since October 2023, according to provisional data released by the ministry of commerce on Monday. The WPI, a proxy for producers' prices, stood at 0.39% in May, 0.85% in April, 2.25% in March, 2.38% in February, and 2.51% in January. The reading was below expectations, with prices rising less than the 0.52% projected by economists in a Reuters poll. A decline in prices of food, non-food manufacturing, fuel and power segments contributed to the dip in the overall headline print. The fall in WPI-based inflation for June was largely led by a fall in food prices amid softer prints for fruits and vegetables, pulses, cereals, spices, and edible oils, said Rahul Agrawal, senior Economist, Icra. 'Among the non-food items, the deflation in fuel and power also widened between these months, exerting downward pressure on the headline print,' Agrawal said. Food prices, which make up 24.38% of the index, fell 0.26% annually in June, compared to a 3.30% and 1.72% rise in April and May, respectively. Cereal prices rose 1.44% on-year, easing from the 2.56% increase recorded in May. Meanwhile, vegetable prices contracted by 22.65%, a deeper drop than the 21.62% decline the previous month. Fruit prices rose 1.59%, much lower than May's 10.17% increase. Milk prices rose by 2.26% in June, down from 2.66% in the previous month. 'The seasonal sequential uptick in food prices has been relatively modest in July 2025 so far, which is expected to keep food prices in the deflationary zone, unless there is an unusual surge in such prices in the remaining part of the month, especially for vegetables,' Agrawal added. Manufactured product prices, which account for about 64% of the WPI, increased by 1.97% annually in June, lower than the 2.04% increase reported in May and the 2.62% increase in April. Fuel and power prices contracted 2.65% in June, compared to a 2.27% contraction in May and a 3.76% contraction in April. The prices of primary articles—covering food, non-food articles, minerals, crude oil, and natural gas—contracted by 3.38% annually in June, compared to a 2.02% contraction in the previous month. Overall, Icra expects the headline WPI to remain in the deflationary territory in July despite an unfavourable base, amid the sustained annual deflation in food and crude oil prices. In June, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to cut the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5%. While announcing the monetary policy decision on 6 June, RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra acknowledged that gross domestic product (GDP) growth remains lower than aspirations, but the central bank retained its forecast at 6.5% for 2025-26. The RBI also lowered its inflation forecast by 30bps, with retail inflation for 2025-26 now pegged at 3.7%.
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Business Standard
20-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Core sectors' growth plunges to a 9-month low of 0.7% in May 2025
Output growth in India's eight core infrastructure industries plummeted to a nine-month low of 0.7 per cent in May from an upwardly revised figure of 1 per cent in April, with half the sectors clocking sharp contractions. Electricity generation contracted for the first time in nine months, with a 5.8 per cent drop that marked the sharpest downturn since June 2020. Crude oil output dipped 1.8 per cent, shrinking for the fifth straight month. Fertilisers production contracted for the second month in a row, with May's 5.9 per cent drop being the sharpest since February 2024, while natural gas output (-3.6 per cent) shrank for the 11th successive month. On the positive side, growth in cement production accelerated to 9.2 per cent in May, recovering from April's six-month low uptick of 6.3 per cent. Steel output also picked up pace and grew 6.7 per cent during the month, compared to a revised 4.4 per cent uptick recorded in April, which was the weakest in seven months. 'Clearly, the pick-up in infrastructure activity has aided steel production. Demand from construction and auto besides capital goods would account for this increase. Cement too did very well, which is reflective of the government activity in the capex space,' said Bank of Baroda chief economist Madan Sabnavis. Coal production growth decelerated a tad to 2.8 per cent from 3.5 per cent in April, while refinery products output grew 1.1 per cent in May after a 4.5 per cent contraction in the previous month. The eight core sectors constitute 40.27 per cent of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which had fallen to an eight-month low of 2.7 per cent in April from an upward revised figure of 3.94 per cent in March. Economists now expect industrial output growth to drop to 1.5 - 2 per cent in May. Base effects also affected last month's growth print, as the Index of Core Industries (ICI) had risen 6.9 per cent in May 2024, which was the highest in the past 13 months. 'Excess rains in the latter part of May 2025, owing to the early onset of the monsoon, likely weighed on the performance of the electricity and some of the mining sectors in the month. However, the YoY performance of the steel, cement, refinery products and crude oil sectors improved in May 2025 vis-à-vis April 2025, partly offsetting the deterioration in the performance of the other sectors,' said Rahul Agrawal, senior economist, ICRA Ratings.
