Inflation up marginally at 0.92%

NEW DELHI: The annual rate of inflation inched up to 0.92% for the week ended October 3 from 0.70% in the week before, as the base effect, low inflation at the same time last year, negated the effect of decline in the wholesale price index (WPI) in the course of the week under consideration, a release by the commerce ministry on Thursday showed.

There was a general decline in prices in the course of the week ended October 3 across the three major product categories, primary articles, manufactured products and fuel. The economists and agri-analysts pointed out that the easing of food price inflation is set to continue as the kharif produce will be available in the markets in the
coming weeks.

The revival of monsoon from mid-August has improved the vegetable yields, causing their prices to drop nearly 14% over the week. The drop in prices on a week-on-week basis was also visible in fruits, cereals and pulses categories as well.

The annual rate of inflation in the case of food articles had touched a high of was at 16.3% in mid-September. Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist at agri-commodity exchange NCDEX, pointed out that the late revival of monsoon rains and prospects of a bumper winter crop has tamed high inflationary expectations for food items. The manufactured items and fuel items also became cheaper over the week. However, economists are expecting prices of these items to gather
further pace with the recovery in the economy gathering momentum.