Annual rate of inflation based on wholesale prices softened in March at 5.70 per cent after having risen to over a three-year high of 6.55 per cent in February, official data showed on Monday.

The wholesale price index (WPI) in March 2016, however, had declined to (-)0.45 per cent.

Shrugging off the depressive effect of demonetisation, India's Consumer Price Index (CPI), or retail inflation, during March rose month-on-month at 3.81 percent, even as factory output in the country contracted by (-)1.2 percent in February, official data had shown last week.

The CPI inflation rate in February was at 3.65 percent. Year-on-Year, however, the inflation rate fell as compared to 4.83 percent recorded in March 2016.

Consumer food price inflation moderated to 1.93 percent, as compared to 2.01 percent in February.

The figures on wholesale price inflation released Monday show marginal increase in the  index for ‘Food Articles’. The index for ‘Non-Food Articles’ group declined by 1.8 percent to 230.6 (provisional) from 234.8 for the previous month.

The index for manufactured products declined by 0.1 percent to 158.7 (provisional) from 158.8 for the previous month.