Inflation seen at 0.09 pct on April 18

If realised,it would be the lowest reading of the WPI inflation rate since annual records started in 1977/78,and comes eight and half months after inflation peaked at 12.91 per cent in early August last year.

The data is due around noon on Thursday.

The annual inflation rate is expected to have fallen even though the wholesale price index is forecast to have risen from the previous week,reflecting sharper upward moves in the index a year ago.

Most analysts said the index for primary items such as food and vegetables and manufacturing would have risen as also the fuel index following an increase in aviation fuel prices.

“Even as the headline WPI inflation is likely to head into the negative zone,the index for both primary and manufactured goods has stabilized and is also showing signs of rising,” Indranil Pan and Kaushik Das,economists at Kotak Mahindra Bank,wrote in a recent note.

The RBI said last week negative WPI inflation should not be seen as deflation for policy purposes as it was only a statistical decline.

The index has been on a downward trend since last September,after a fall in global commodity prices,but steadied in March.

The Reserve Bank of India’s deputy governor,Rakesh Mohan,said last week there was no near-term concern about inflation and consumer price-based inflation,which is still close to double-digits,would edge lower in coming months.