A major factor that has influenced the trend in interest rates is the sustained decline in the inflation rate in the recent period. Notwithstanding year-to-year fluctuations, there has been a distinct downward drift in the inflation rate during the second half of the 1990s, which is now at around half the level as compared with the first half of the 1990s.
Both the popular measures of inflation - the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) – have shown a definite fall in the recent period. For example, the WPI on an average basis has declined from an average of about 10.5 per cent per annum between 1990-91 to 1995-96 to about 5 per cent per annum over the last 5 years.