After declining last week, India's annual food inflation rate for the week ended August 13 moved up to 9.80 percent with rise in the prices of fruits, onion, vegetables, egg, fish, rice and potato. It remained in single digit for the 22nd consecutive week.

Food inflation remained in double-digit for most of 2010, before falling below the ten percent mark in February this year.

Annual inflation rate of food article prices, as measured by the wholesale price index, or WPI, (with base year 2004-05) for the week ended August 13 rose to 9.80 percent from 9.03 percent in the preceding week.

Percentage of inflation for the corresponding week in the preceding year was 14.56 percent. The 52-week average inflation for the week ended August 13 was 11.61 percent, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

Annual percentage of inflation for "Non-Food Articles" increased to 17.80 percent from 16.07 in the preceding week. The 52-week average inflation for the week ended August 13 was 23.64 percent.

Primary articles

Annual rate of inflation for the week ended August 13 was 12.40 percent, up from last week's level of 11.64 percent. It was 15.88 per cent for the corresponding week of the preceding year. The 52-week average inflation for the week was 15.07 percent, the data revealed.

Index for this group, with a weightage of 20.12 per cent, grew by 0.51 percent from the previous week's level.

These groups and items showed variations:-

The index for 'Food Articles' group increased by 0.42 percent, due to higher prices of fish-inland, mutton, gram, fruits and vegetables, egg, bajra and masur. However, the prices of chicken, jowar and moong declined.

Index for "Non-Food Articles" was up by 1.63 percent, on higher prices of flowers, raw silk, nigerseed, fodder, raw cotton, mustard seed, groundnut seed and linseed, while those of gingelly seed, gaurseed, raw rubber and copra dropped.

Index for "Minerals" dropped by 0.31 percent on lower prices of crude petroleum.

Fuel & Power

Annual rate of inflation for the week ended August 13 unchanged at their previous week's level of 13.13 percent. The 52-week average inflation for the week was 11.91 percent, the data revealed.

Index for this major group carrying a weightage of 14.91 percent also remained unchanged at its previous week's level of 167.2.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the measures taken to remove supply constraints in some of the agricultural commodities and good monsoon would help to have further moderating influence on the prices of food and other essential commodities. The government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) took various measures to check the inflation. RBI has increased its key policy rate 11 times since March 2010 to curb spending and tame the rate of price rise.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday expressed confidence that the headline inflation would come down to six percent by year-end.

RBI Deputy Governor Subir Gokran said the apex bank expects the inflation to ease by November-December and was watching for signs of moderation in demand.



RTTNews