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.
Inflation has risen to -1.21 per cent for the week ended July 4 against -1.55 per cent the previous week.
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.
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.
Inflation declines to 3.65 per cent for the week ended December 8, compared to 3.75 per cent in the previous week, mainly due to fall in prices of food articles and some manufactured items. The wholesale price index-based inflation stood at 5.63 per cent in the corresponding week a year ago.
As per data released by government on Thursday, price of pulses became cheaper by 5.63 per cent year-on-year.
Food inflation, as measured by Wholesale Price Index, stood at 9.13 per cent in the previous week.
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.
Meanwhile, inflation of non-food articles was at 15.50 per cent for the week ended July 9, compared to 15.20 per cent in the previous week.
As per the official data released on Monday, inflation in food items was 9.94 per cent in March, as against 6.07 per cent in February.
The wholesale price index, coming below four per cent, may prompt the Reserve Bank of India to cut key policy rates. An indication was made by the RBI Governor D Subbarao in Tokyo on Wednesday. During the week, prices of manufactured items such as sugar, imported edible oil and textile items such as cotton yarn got cheaper.
On an annual basis, prices of food articles went up by 8.19 per cent in July, which is lower than the 8.38 per cent inflation recorded in June.
Reversing its upward trend, inflation fell to a two-year low of 4.07 per cent in the week ended July 23 due to cheaper food products even as prices shot up for minerals, including iron ore
The rate of price rise in food items, as calculated on the basis of the wholesale price index, was 8.53 per cent in the previous week and 21.46 per cent in the comparable period of 2010.
Headline inflation rose to 9.44 per cent in June on the back of rising prices of fuel and manufactured products, which may prompt the Reserve Bank to raise key rates again in its quarterly policy review later this month.
As per data released by the government on Thursday, pulses became over 9 per cent cheaper year-on-year during the period under review.
Inflation fell to a 31-week low of 5.6 per cent for the week ended January 8 despite a hike in prices of fuel, vegetables, non-food and manufactured products.
Inflation based on the wholesale-price-index remained unchanged at 6.46 per cent for the week ended March 17 when compared to the week before. In fact, inflation is now unchanged for the last three weeks.
Wholesale Price Index for the month ended March moderated to 3-year low of 5.96 per cent against Reserve Bank's projection of 6.8 per cent.
The latest numbers are the highest level of food inflation since the week ended March 26 when it had stood at 9.18 per cent.
Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) stood at 6.84 per cent in February. In March, 2012, it was 7.69 per cent.
Inflation rose to 5.91 per cent during the week ended April 23 as vegetables, fruits, edible oil, industrial fuel and manufactured products became costlier.
This is the lowest rate of price rise in food items in the last 18 months, when separate data for food inflation first started coming in.
This lack of regular and detailed disclosure by companies or respondents lies at the core of the problem, one that has gained ground in recent weeks.
The rise in overall inflation for the second month in a row may prompt the central bank to go for another round of policy rate hikes in its policy review meeting, scheduled for May 3.
Benchmark 10-year bond yields hit a 13-month peak as bond traders priced in more aggressive monetary easing next year.
Inflation fell for the second consecutive week to 7.02 per cent for the week ended December 4, mainly due to cheaper primary and fuel products.
The wholesale price index during the corresponding week a year ago was as high as 12.91 per cent, while in the previous week, it stood at (-) 1.58 per cent. During the week, prices of barley, jowar and gram rose by two per cent and condiments and spices, arhar and fruits and vegetables by one per cent each.
Overall inflation rose marginally to 8.31 per cent in February, 2011, from 8.23 per cent in the previous month.
While the wholesale price index stood at 0.48 per cent in the previous week, the rate of price rise was 9.32 per cent during the corresponding week a year ago. During the week, the prices of eggs went up by 11 per cent, mutton 3 per cent, and fruit and vegetables and spices 2 per cent each.
Wholesale price-based inflation stood at 8.90 per cent in the corresponding week a year ago. During the week, the prices of the maize, arhar, spices and fruit went up while ragi and barley declined.
During the week, prices of steel, condiments and spices, marine fish and fruits and vegetables escalated. Among the manufactured items, prices of aluminium, locomotives and railway wagons increased while the prices of iron and steel declined.
The widely-tracked wholesale price index (WPI), the cause of severe political pangs for the government every Friday, will be released on a monthly basis by the end of this year instead of weekly. In effect, instead of witnessing the release of inflation data for 52 consecutive weeks, the data will be made available only a dozen times a year.
Food inflation surged to a four-and-a-half month high of 9.90 per cent during the week ended July 30 on the back of costlier onions, fruits, vegetables and protein-based items.
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.
The hardening of the Wholesale Price Index follows an uptick in retail inflation.
Falling core inflation on the back of slowing economic growth is likely to create space for the Reserve Bank to ease monetary policy in the early part of the next year, rating agency Crisil said.
However, some analysts say RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan may delay the rate cuts amid mounting concerns over the government's fiscal health.
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