Inflation touched 5.48 per cent for the week ended April 9, mainly due to costlier vegetables, fruits, cooking gas and edible oils.
In line with the Centre's expectation of a benign price level, inflation fell further to 5.11 per cent in the penultimate week of 2004-05 fiscal, but was higher than 4.53 per cent a year-ago.
Tata Motors was the top Sensex loser, down nearly 5%
A sharp fall in iron ore prices could affect only a marginal decline in inflation to 5.23 per cent for the week ended March 12 since essential commodities like vegetables and fruits and several manufactured products became costlier.
Inflation dropped by 0.05 per cent to 5.37 per cent, touching a 34-week low, for the week ended January 22, mainly due to cheaper vegetables, fruits, edible oils, minerals, fuel and manufactured products.
Inflation fell by 0.23 per cent to a 23-week low of 6.5 per cent for the fourth consecutive week ended December 18, mainly due to cheaper food items, edibles oils and manufactured products.
While bank credit growth seems to be showing signs of revival, deposits could soon emerge as the new area of concern for bankers.
According to government estimates, in early December, potato prices had increased 136 per cent, sugar prices doubled and pulses zoomed by over 40 per cent compared to the previous year.
Inflation rose to 4.62 per cent for the week ended December 17, from 4.5 per cent in the previous week mainly due to costlier fuel and non-food items.
The inflation fell marginally to 4.40 per cent for the week ended April 3 despite a whopping 20 per cent rise in vegetable prices and a substantial hike in the prices of fruits, milk and fuels for industries.
Inflation is far too important a problem to have to rely on an inadequate and, ultimately, unreliable database for solutions.
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 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.
Inflation rose to (-)1.17 per cent for the week ended July 11 compared to (-)1.21 per cent in the previous week as food articles like pulses, cereals, fruits and vegetables turned expensive.
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
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.
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.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
As far as outcomes are concerned, the evidence on a soft landing, while not yet conclusive, shows movement in the right direction.
No inflationary pressure in near future: Jalan
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.
Credit as a proportion of GDP is low in India by international standards.
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 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.
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 Reserve Bank of India may soon be given the job of both collecting and processing inflation data.
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.
The wholesale price-based inflation rose to a four-month high of 14.55 per cent in March, mainly due to hardening of crude oil and commodity prices, even though vegetables witnessed easing of price pressures. As per the government data released on Monday, WPI inflation has remained in double digits for the 12th consecutive month beginning April 2021. The last time such a level of WPI was recorded was in November 2021, when inflation was 14.87 per cent.
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.
