Driven by a sharp fall in prices of inputs, inflation dipped closer to zero to 0.27 per cent during the week ended March 14 from 0.44 per cent a week before.
Earlier a Reuters poll showed that the inflation rate was expected to have dropped closer to zero in mid-March, due to a fall in commodity prices such as sugar and iron.
The median forecast of 10 economists was for a 0.13 per cent rise in the wholesale price index in the 12 months to March 14, after a rise of 0.44 per cent in the previous week.
Inflation has fallen sharply as commodity prices plunged after the global economic and financial crisis deepened. Some analysts expect negative readings by mid-2009.
The fall in the inflation rate was accentuated by a sharp rise in the WPI a year earlier, when prices were increasing, analysts said.
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