A rise in prices of diesel and petrol pushed up inflation to a 29-week high of 5.63 per cent for the week ended December 20 even as vegetables, edible oils and textiles became cheaper.

The wholesale price index inflation, which has been rising for the last six weeks, was up by another 0.06 per cent from the previous week's figure of 5.57 per cent though prices of several food and non-food articles and some manufactured items fell.

The general price level was as low as 3.34 per cent in the year-ago period, indicating that the latest price level was not in consonance with the upward GDP growth in the second quarter of this fiscal.

The latest trend in inflation comes amidst Reserve Bank of India's forecast of 4-4.5 per cent and finance ministry's projection of 2.9 per cent by March end.

Click here to take today's poll

The WPI rose by 0.1 per cent to 176.5 points during the latest reported week as fuels group index rose substantially, giving a positive linkage to the upward movement in the inflation rate, even as the indices of primary products and manufactured products fell. The index was 167.1 points in the previous year period.

Centre had to revise upwards the point-to-point inflation to 5.13 per cent for the week ended October 25 as compared to the earlier reported figure of 4.96 per cent, which was based on provisional level.

The final WPI stood corrected at 176.1 points during the last week of October as against the provisional level of 175.8 points.