By IANS,
New Delhi : India’s annual food inflation declined to 16.61 percent for the week ended April 17 from 17.65 percent a week ago due to a fall in prices of fruits, vegetables and some coarse cereals, official data showed Thursday.
Data on the wholesale price index (WPI) released by the commerce and industry ministry showed the index for food articles fell by 0.2 percent during the week under review. The index for non-food articles, however, rose 0.8 percent.
Taking into account the year as a whole, the prices of pulses, wheat, rice, milk, cereals and rice rose further this week. Prices of potatoes and onions, however, fell.
In the non-food articles group, fuel, fibre, and oil seeds were ruling higher than the levels seen last year.
Following are the rise and fall in prices of some essential food items over the 52-week period:
– Pulses: 29.89 percent
– Milk: 22.21 percent
– Fruits: 9.75 percent
– Rice: 9.06 percent
– Cereals: 8.39 percent
– Wheat: 7.38 percent
– Potato: (-)28.16 percent
– Onions : (-) 9.95 percent
The fresh data came a day after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee assured parliament that every possible step would be taken to curb price rise. He said inflation would ease as there were indications of a fall in food prices that have been driving it.
“Indications of softening of food inflation are clearly visible… It is expected that this decline would continue in the recent months uninterruptedly. The outlook is further brightened by the fact that a normal monsoon is predicted this year,” Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha during a debate on the Finance Bill.