By IANS,
New Delhi : India’s annual food inflation climbed to 16.74 percent for the week ended May 29 owing to high prices of pulses, milk and fruits, offering no respite to people from the persistently rising rates of essential items, official data released Thursday showed.
The food inflation was 16.55 percent during the previous week.
Data on the wholesale price index (WPI) released by the commerce and industry ministry showed that food articles group rose 0.4 percent and the non-food group index increased by 1 percent during the week under review.
Fuel prices rose 14.23 percent during the week against 14.14 percent in the week before.
The primary articles index was up 17.21 percent, compared to a 16.89 percent rise during the previous week.
Following are the rise and fall in prices of some essential food items over the 52-week period:
– Pulses: 31.86 percent
– Milk: 21.12 percent
– Fruits: 18.7 percent
– Rice: 7.12 percent
– Cereals: 5.13 percent
– Wheat: 3.4 percent
– Potatoes: (-)30.87 percent
– Onions : (-) 12.27 percent
With food inflation not cooling off as expected, policymakers are now betting on a normal monsoon to deflate prices.
The government’s chief statistician Pronab Sen said Wednesday that the high inflation was a worry and hoped that the Reserve Bank of India would take appropriate action in its quarterly review of monetary policy next month.
The overall annual rate of inflation in April stood at 9.59 percent.