Debt Market Update
- India's retail inflation (CPI) softened to a 15-month low of 5.66% in March 2023 (6.44% in February 2023). Inflation declined mainly due to softening of food inflation i.e. dip in prices of vegetables, oil and fats, meat and fish. Overall inflation in the food basket was 4.79% in March 2023 (5.95% in February 2023). The food basket has a weightage of 54.18% in the overall CPI.
- Wholesale Price Index inflation (WPI) declined to a 29-month low of 1.34% in March 2023 (3.85% in February 2023) with sustained moderation in input prices. This is the 10th straight month of decline in WPI-based inflation.
- India's industrial output, as measured by the IIP, in February 2023 rose 5.6% YoY (5.2% in January 2023). Over the 11-months of FY23 from April 2022 to February 2023, IIP clucked a growth of 5.5%. Manufacturing output (up 5.3%), power generation (8.2%) and mining (4.6%) were key to the rise in IIP.
- India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections grew 13% in March 2023 (for February 2023 sales), clocking the second highest monthly collections of Rs 1.6 lakh crore (Rs 1,49 lakh crore in February 2023). Growth in GST collections in March was the fastest by far in 2023, with the 12th month in a row that inflows were over Rs 1.4 lakh crore and the fourth month in 2022-23 over the Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
