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 inflation which hit a high of 13 per cent in August following spike in prices of petroleum products in the international market, has been on the decline since the outbreak of the global financial crisis in mid-September last year.
The overall inflation went up marginally to 5.25 per cent for the week ended November 29 despite a sharp 9 per cent fall in vegetable prices.
Inflation stood unchanged at the previous week's level of 4.4 per cent for the week ended April 10, even as prices fell for wheat, rice, fruits, vegetables and several edible oils.
"We believe loose liquidity will increasingly feed into higher inflation from current levels. However, we expect a falling output gap, the primary determinant of inflation, and currency appreciation will keep inflation within the RBI's target range of below 5 per cent," Goldman Sachs analyst Tushar Poddar said in the report.
Beating the expectations of the Reserve Bank of India and the government, inflation rose by 0.11 per cent to 5.91 per cent for the week ended February 7
In line with the expectations of the Reserve Bank of India and the Union government, inflation dropped to 5.8 per cent after remaining over 6.0 per cent in the recent period
The commodity prices eased further with inflation falling marginally by 0.06 per cent to 5.61 per cent during the week ended May 07
Inflation fell marginally to 6.13% for the week ended January 17, but public continued to pay higher prices for essential commodities with primary articles like fruits and vegetables, milk and many manufactured items becoming costlier.
Reflecting the "measured" steps taken by the Centre and the Reserve Bank to check prices, fiscal 2004-05 ended with inflation at 5.05 per cent for the week ended March 26 despite costlier food articles, including vegetables.
Vegetable inflation softened to 24.76 per cent in June, down from 33.15 per cent in the previous month. Inflation in potato was (-) 24.27 per cent, against (-) 23.36 per cent in May.
While inflation dropped to 0.44 per cent for the week ended March 7, the BPLR of the top five Indian banks was in the range of 12.25-16.75 per cent. In the corresponding period last year, inflation was estimated at 7.78 per cent, while lending rates were in the range of 12.25-12.75 per cent. Real interest rate is the difference between WPI-based inflation and the prevailing benchmark prime lending rate.
As far as outcomes are concerned, the evidence on a soft landing, while not yet conclusive, shows movement in the right direction.
Inflation rose to 4.27 per cent for the week ended June 30 as compared to 4.13 per cent in the previous week mainly due to increase in prices of food articles and some manufactured items.
Inflation dropped by 0.42 per cent to 7.38 per cent, for the second week in succession, in the week ended September 25, mainly due to fall in prices of vegetables and essential commodities.
Credit as a proportion of GDP is low in India by international standards.
No inflationary pressure in near future: Jalan
The Reserve Bank may give up its opposition to the proposal of a monthly compilation and release of inflation data, with D Subbarao moving to the central bank from the finance ministry, which was open to the idea of a shift in the time table of the Wholesale Price Index.
Costlier foods, electricity and manufactured products pushed up inflation to 4.47 per cent for the week ended March 27, but 2003-04 ended on a positive note with the price level being contained at 4-4.5 per cent.
The Reserve Bank of India may soon be given the job of both collecting and processing inflation data.
Inflation rose for the seventh consecutive week by 0.12 per cent to reach 31-week high of 5.75 per cent for the week ended December 27, mainly due to an all round hike in the prices of primary articles, fuels and manufactured items.
The inflation rate slipped to 4.96 per cent during the week ended October 25 due to decline in prices of food items like wheat, jowar, bajra, maize, tea, vegetables and fruits.
Of the five years when Manmohan Singh was the finance minister, only in two years did the government manage to keep the average annual inflation rate below 10 per cent. The remaining three years were hit by an average annual inflation rate (based on the wholesale price index) of 13.7 per cent in 1991-92, 10.1 per cent in 1992-93 and 12.6 per cent in 1994-95. Yet, a comparison should be useful.
RBI watchers are going to be on tenterhooks for the next 3 weeks.
Inflation fell marginally to 3.54 per cent for the week ended April 22 as against 3.55 per cent in the previous week, despite higher prices of eggs and wheat.
Inflation based on the wholesale price index rose marginally to 4.55 per cent for the week ended December 3 from 4.54 per cent in the previous week due to the increase in prices of food items.
The major task in emerging economies now is how best to tackle high or rising food prices.
Driven by erratic monsoon and higher global crude prices, inflation is likely to grow by 5.7 per cent in the current fiscal ending March 2006, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.
Inflation dipped to a two-month low of 5.20 per cent during the week ended May 28 from the previous week's level of 5.38 per cent even as some of the primary and manufactured products became costlier.
Manufactured goods and food lead the price rise.
While headline and core WPI are stuck in a disinflationary phase, the retail measure is inching north.
Continuing its fall for the third consecutive week, inflation dipped to 6.73 per cent for the week ended December 11, mainly due to cheaper vegetables and fuels, after remaining over 7 per cent since July.
Inflation revised upwards to 7.91% for week ended July 24 from provisional level of 7.51%.
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