Cheaper fruits, vegetables and edible oils pushed down inflation further to 4.78 per cent for the week ended March 13 despite costlier milk, skimmed milk powder, bread and buns, and baby food.
The point-to-point wholesale price index inflation fell marginally by 0.13 per cent from the previous week level of 4.91 per cent in line with the government's claim that rise in prices has been contained. The price level was as high as 6 per cent in the year-ago period.
WPI, however, rose by 0.1 per cent to 179.7 points even as fuel prices remained unchanged despite gyrations in the international markets; the index was at 171.5 points in the previous year period.
Chief Economic Advisor Ashok Lahiri on Thursday said that inflation was expected to stabilise around 4.7 per cent by the year-end.
The government drastically revised inflation upwards to 6.55 per cent for the week ended January 17 as against the provisional level of 6.13 per cent.
The final WPI stood corrected at 178.9 points during the third week of January as compared to the provisional figure of 178.2 points.
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