Food inflation was recorded at 9.23 per cent in September.
Prices of most commodities, barring wheat, continued to remain firm on an annual basis, as per Wholesale Price Index data released by the government in New Delhi.
The rate of price rise stood at 8.87 per cent in August, 2010.
In tune with the Reserve Bank of India's expectation of moderate inflation this year, the general price level stood unchanged at the previous week's figure of 4.2 per cent for the week ended May 8.
Inflation declined marginally to 7.45 per cent in October even though prices of food items like rice, wheat pulses and potato showed a rising trend.
The panel has also decided to increase the weight of manufactured items and the fuel group in the new index. Accordingly, the new WPI series, with a revised base year of 2004-05, will see the weight of manufactured items go up to around 65 per cent from 63.75 per cent in the present series.
Inflation rose to 7.81 per cent in September, from 7.55 per cent in August.
Food inflation is back in double digits after a gap of a month-and-a-half and stood at 10.60 per cent for the week ending October 8 on the back of costlier vegetables, fruits, milk and protein-based items.
Core inflation, a measure of demand-side pressure on prices also rose sharply in March.
Overall the inflation in vegetable segment was 8.57 per cent as compared to about 4 per cent in February.
Inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index, stood at 9.78 per cent in August.
Inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index, was 6.87 per cent in July.
The wholesale price index-based inflation, which neared double-digit level in February, has probably peaked and was likely to decline as the country expected a good winter crop and drop in oil prices, RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Bangalore on Monday.
The wholesale price-based inflation accelerated to a record high of 12.94 per cent in May, on rising prices of crude oil and manufactured goods. Low base effect also contributed to the spike in WPI inflation in May 2021. In May 2020, WPI inflation was at (-) 3.37 per cent. This is the fifth straight month of uptick seen in the wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation. In April, 2021, WPI inflation hit double digit at 10.49 per cent. "The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, was 12.94 per cent for the month of May, 2021 (over May, 2020) as compared to (-) 3.37 per cent in May 2020.
Richard Illey, chief economist, (Asia, ex-Japan) at BNP Paribas, talks to Business Standard on inflation and related issues ahead of the Reserve Bank's annual review of monetary policy.
Food inflation stood at 20.18 per cent in the comparable period last year.
The RBI's rate-setting panel MPC on Monday began its three-day deliberation amid expectations of another round of hike in benchmark interest rates to contain inflation that continues to remain above the central bank's upper tolerance level. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will announce the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee after deliberations on Wednesday. Das has already indicated that there may another hike in the repo rate, though he refrained from quantifying it.
Inflation measured by the Wholesale Price Index had declined to 6.62 per cent in January. It was 7.18 per cent in December and 7.24 per cent in November.
The inflation bogey that stalked the government earlier in the week appears to have lost force, with the wholesale price index declining to 6.05 per cent for the week ended February 17, 2007, against 6.63 per cent for the previous week.
The Bharatiya Janata Party notes with dismay the fact that the consumer price inflation in India today is the highest among all the countries of Asia-Pacific.
The common man's main grouse is high inflation numbers. But there are other anomalies as well that need to be addressed.
The government's response to the price hike needs to be less panicky. The imposition of export duties, reduction in import duties, increasing the minimum export prices, restricting exports and raising the cash reserve ratio for banks have been among the measures that have resulted from this concern over inflation.
Ahead of the monetary policy review on May 3, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Shyamala Gopinath said inflation was a concern, mainly on account of the high prices of non-food manufacturing goods.
The move aimed at blunting Finance Ministry, RBI's opposition to monthly reporting.
Inflation fell substantially by 0.62 per cent to 5.32 per cent for the week ended February 28 mainly due to the fall in prices of primary items, including fruits and vegetables, and non-food articles.
The wholesale price index stood at 6.21 per cent during the corresponding week a year ago. Prices of maize, arhar and moong declined by one per cent each. However, prices of fuel remained unchanged at the previous week's level.
Costlier fuels, including LPG, pushed up inflation to 5.38 per cent for the week ended December 6 -- the fourth week in a row that saw rising inflation -- even as prices of vegetables, rice and some edible oils declined.
In an earlier analysis for the period till April 26, it had been found that of the 365 items in the WPI, the index for as many as 166 items had not been revised for more than four months. The latest analysis as of June 21 shows that the index for around 55 of these 166 items has been revised. In effect, only one-third of the items have seen an index revision. During this period, headline inflation has moved from 8.27 per cent to 11.63 per cent.
The inflation rate fell marginally to 4.88 per cent during the week ended November 8 despite a rise in prices of essential items like wheat, tea, maize, textiles, paper, metal and machines.
Interestingly, it is the long products that have witnessed the steepest price increase (between 50 per cent and 62 per cent), clearly reflecting the booming demand from construction activities. However, the flat products, by comparison, have seen a price increase of 17-24 per cent, almost half compared with the long products. Driven by demand, the share of the long products in the total steel production has been steadily increasing.
Food inflation fell sharply to a near four-year low of 1.81 per cent for the week ended December 10 as prices of essential items like vegetables, onion, potato and wheat declined.
The rate of price rise in food items stood at 17.14 per cent in the corresponding week of 2010.
According to data released by the government on Thursday, onions became cheaper by 39.20 per cent year-on-year during the week under review, while potato prices were down by 15.75 per cent.
In the previous week inflation was (-) 1.54 per cent. Wholesale price index-based inflation was 12.53 per cent during the corresponding week a year ago.
However, risks to the outlook stems from possible sub-normal monsoon and higher crude oil prices (on account of the crisis in Iraq)," the Economic Survey 2013-14 tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.
Inflation has risen to -1.21 per cent for the week ended July 4 against -1.55 per cent the previous week.
From the Sensex pack, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Asian Paints, Nestle, Axis Bank, Wipro and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major gainers. JSW Steel, State Bank of India, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors and Bajaj Finance were the major laggards.
Eggs, meat and fish also became 13.36 per cent more expensive on an annual basis, while cereal prices were up 4.13 per cent.
As per data released by government on Thursday, price of pulses became cheaper by 5.63 per cent year-on-year.
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