By IANS,
New Delhi : India’s food inflation declined marginally by one percent to 9.5 percent for the week ended March 19 as prices of vegetables, milk and other essential food items eased a bit, official data showed Thursday.
Food inflation had risen to 10.05 percent for the week ending March 12.
Limited data on the wholesale price index released by the commerce and industry ministry also showed a decline in the index for primary articles, which fell from 13.53 percent to 12.98 percent for the week under review.
However, the fuel index showed an increase, nudging up to 13.13 percent as against 12.79 percent in the earlier week.
India’s inflation rate continues to remain higher than the comfort zone of both the Reserve Bank of India and the government, which had wanted it contained at 4-5 percent.
Despite assurances from policy-makers, India’s annual rate of inflation rose to 8.31 percent for February from 8.23 percent for the month before due to higher prices of fuels and manufactured products.
The following are the yearly rise and fall in prices of some main commodities that form the sub-index for food articles:
Onions: 6.23 percent
Vegetables: 5.52 percent
Fruits: 24.67 percent
Potatoes: 8.39 percent
Milk: 5.79 percent
Eggs, meat, fish: 15.34 percent
Cereals: 3.96 percent
Rice: 2.94 percent
Wheat: no change during the week from year-ago prices
Pulses: (-)4.4 percent