Benchmark shares indices ended marginally higher on Tuesday, amid a volatile trading session, led by oil exploration major ONGC.
The new wholesale price-based inflation basket will have as many as 676 products, including LCD TVs, mobile phones, and packaged drinking water among others, and is likely to be rolled out in June or July.
With the advancement of the base year and probably a revision of commodities in the index and their weights, it is expected that the index would provide a better picture of the current scenario of prices. The finance minister said information on weekly prices of manufactured products is highly meagre.
The wholesale price-based inflation stands at 9.9 per cent in March, but many analysts criticise the compilation of data, saying it includes several items that are no longer in vogue.
RBI faces contradictory signals.
The rise has been mainly on account of increase in prices of fruits, vegetables, imported edible oils, tea, sea fish, cement and iron and steel and spices, though the index for fuel items declined during the week.
The wholesale price-based inflation may have moderated somewhat in March but the pressure on prices is likely to continue for another two months, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said.
Food inflation, measured by the Wholesale Price Index, was 7.33 per cent in the previous week.
For over a decade, HDFC Bank consistently outperformed industry growth rates in both deposits and advances, maintaining impeccable asset quality. Amid a landscape where other banks struggled with soaring non-performing assets (NPAs), HDFC Bank thrived, eventually surpassing ICICI Bank to become the largest private sector lender in India. Its net interest margin (NIM) remained stable in the range of 4.1-4.4 per cent.
'The private sector will look to the budget to check whether there are any headwinds or tailwinds.'
Top gainers in the Sensex pack included ICICI Bank, Infosys, Bajaj Finance and HDFC Bank, rising up to 2.67 per cent.
Stock market barometers Sensex and Nifty ended marginally higher on Monday as rise in wholesale inflation capped early gains despite a positive trend in global markets. The 30-share index settled 32.02 points or 0.05 per cent higher at 60,718.71 with half of its constituents ending in green. The broad based Nifty edged up 6.70 points or 0.04 per cent to close at 18,109.45.
Inflation declined to 5.44 per cent for the week ended May 5 against 5.66 per cent in the previous week owing to lower prices of essential food items and some manufactured products.
For the first time after the government took drastic steps to rein in runaway price rise, inflation slipped to 7.14 per cent in the week ended April 5, 2008. In the previous week inflation had surged to a 40-month high of 7.41 per cent, mounting pressure on the Reserve Bank to further tighten money supply in its forthcoming annual credit policy later this month.
Food inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index, stood at 9.01 per cent in the previous week, while it was over 21 per cent in the first week of June last year.
Onions and tomatoes are essential cooking ingredients and both have witnessed rise in prices.
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.
The latest numbers likely to be seen by the government as a silver lining after the slowdown in economic growth during the first quarter.
CRISIL also expects the average Wholesale Price Index inflation to be higher at around 8 per cent as against of 7 per cent estimated earlier.
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.
Data released on Thursday showed prices of essential commodities like cereals went up by 12.7 per cent, rice by 11.75 per cent, wheat 12.6 per cent and pulses rose by 42 per cent.
Inflation rose to 3.83 per cent for the week ended January 12, against 3.79 per cent in the previous week mainly due to rise in prices of manufactured items and some food articles. The wholesale price-based inflation stood at 6.15 per cent in the corresponding week a year ago.
In its monetary and macroeconomic development report, RBI has raised hopes of a rate cut but also flagged some challenges.
Noting that India's inflation record was 'much, much better' against emerging economies, Basu said inflation should go down from September and as per expectations and calculations of the Finance Ministry, it will go below seven per cent from September.
It's time to focus on building a modern information system for Union excise and state VAT.
Some see CRR cut as tight liquidity continues.
A Reuters poll forecast the wholesale price index , India's main inflation measure, rose an annual 7.6 per cent in November, up from 7.45 per cent in October.
Maharashtra minister Dada Bhuse said the decision to impose export duty should have been taken with proper coordination.
With inflation turning positive after 13 weeks, the Reserve Bank on Thursday said the wholesale price index may rise to six per cent by this fiscal end a development that may pose challenges to the central bank in maintaining a stable monetary policy.
The UPA government's commitment to keep the price rise under check notwithstanding, inflation rose by 0.47 per cent to 4.67 per cent for the week ended May 15 due to surging prices of mass consumption items like vegetables, milk and edible oils.
Inflation fell marginally to 3.01 per cent in the week ended August 27 from 3.08 per cent a week ago, despite rise in prices of food, aviation fuel and manufactured items.
Inflation turned negative for the first time in the week ending June 6. Inflation in the corresponding week last year was 12.38 per cent.
Inflation rose to 3.42 per cent for the week ended September 22, compared to 3.23 per cent in the previous week, mainly due to rise in prices of manufactured items like salt, imported edible oil and some food products. The wholesale price-based index stood at 5.43 per cent in the corresponding week a year ago.
Over 300 new items such as mobile phones and digital cameras would figure in the new wholesale price index that would give a better picture of the price situation. And close to 30 items would be knocked off from the new inflation series expected to be out by December.
The food articles group rose by 0.2 per cent due to higher prices of fruits and vegetables, condiments and spices, barley and wheat (one per cent each).
The gross NPAs of some public sector banks had crossed 4 per cent of their total assets at the end of September.
The inflation in vegetables remained stubborn, which jumped 16.91 per cent
Hyperlocal delivery platform magicpin experienced an overwhelming surge in demand at 9 am on Monday, causing its app to crash, leaving users temporarily unable to access the platform. The increased traffic came after the firm announced its "tomatoes @ Rs70" initiative last week in partnership with National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India (NCCF) and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). This led to magicpin's tomato stocks depleting within the first 10 minutes, leaving many buyers struggling to order.
The report said that weak global growth prospects have kept company prices in check in the international market and the same sentiments were being reflected in the domestic market. According to CMIE, prices of basic metal and metal products are projected to decline by 10.5 per cent in the current fiscal.
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