The Centre on Monday said India’s wholesale price index-based inflation dropped to 5.7% in March from 6.5% in February. Fall in fuel and mineral prices contributed to the trend.

According to government data, prices of minerals fell by 24% in March while in February it had gone up by 31%. Also, prices of fuels went down by 18%. “A waning of the unfavourable base for minerals as well as the 1.8% appreciation of the Indian rupee relative to the US dollar cooled WPI inflation in March 2017,” Aditi Nayar, principal economist at ICRA Ltd, told Mint.

Apart from food prices, five major categories have dropped in the WPI index. The food price index went up by 3% owing to higher costs of fruits, vegetables and rice. Vegetables became dearer by 6% last month.

The index of manufactured products dropped from 3.7% in February to 3% in March. The government also revised the wholesale price inflation for January from 5.25% to 5.53%, reported The Economic Times.