India's food inflation rate eases further to 10.05 %

India's food inflation rate eased further to 10.05 per cent in the year to August 14 from 10.35 per cent in the previous week, but remained in double-digit territory for the third week running, an official statement said here today, quoting provisional data.

The return of the food inflation rate to double digit levels last week after two weeks in single digit territory came at a time when the Government was facing a steady attack from the Opposition on the issue of rising food and fuel prices.

High prices of food items have been a cause of worry for the Government since the worst monsoon in more than three decades last year and floods in some states adversely affected the Kharif crop.

According to the figures released today, the prices of pulses were up 15.99 per cent from a year ago, milk by 18.22 per cent, fruits by 15.24 per cent, cereals by 7.10 per cent, rice by 7.72 per cent and wheat by 7.61 per cent.

Potatoes, on the other hand, were down by 50.04 per cent, vegetables by 14.23 per cent and onions by 7.29 per cent, the statement said.

Overall, the annual rate of inflation for Primary Articles, which have a weight of 22.02 per cent in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 14.75 per cent for the week ended August 14 as compared to 14.85 per cent for the previous week and 7.74 per cent during the corresponding week, ended August 15, 2009, of the previous year.

The index for this major group rose by 0.1 per cent to 308.1 from 307.8 for the previous week, the provisional data said.

Within this group, the index for Food Articles declined by 0.2 per cent to 297.9 from 298.6 for the previous week due to lower prices of fish-inland (11%), moong, poultry chicken and gram (2% each) and maize, arhar, urad and rice (1% each). However, the prices of fruits & vegetables (2%) and wheat (1%) moved up.

The index for Non-Food Articles rose by 1.0 per cent to 290.6 from 287.7 for the previous week due to higher prices of groundnut seed (7%), raw silk (5%), raw jute (2%) and copra and linseed (1% each). However, the prices of soyabean (4%) and raw rubber (2%) declined.

In the case of Fuel, Power, Light & Lubricants, which have a weight of 14.23 per cent in the WPI, the index and rate of inflation remained unchanged at their previous week’s level of 385.9 and 12.57 per cent, respectively. The rate of inflation was (-)8.90 per cent during the corresponding week of the previous year.

NNN