WPI inflation averaged 3.8 pc last fiscal: Govt

NEW DELHI: Wholesale price-based inflation, the most watched price index, averaged 3.8 per cent last fiscal, while retail price indices stood at the psychological level of double-digits, Parliament was informed today.

"The average annual inflation rates of WPI, CPI-AL and CPI-RL for 2009-10 are 3.8 per cent, 13.9 per cent and 13.8 per cent, respectively. For CPI-IW, average inflation of April-February, 2009-10 is 11.9 per cent," minister of state for finance Namo Narain Meena tole the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

The retail price indices are used for measuring dearness allowance for Central and state employees as also to the workers in the industrial sectors, minimum wages for agriculture labour, support prices of crops, he said.

"The year-on-year inflation of CPI-IW remained high during July 2009 to February 2010. This high-level inflation in CPI-IW is mainly due to double-digit inflation in food group, which has a high weight of food group (46.2 per cent) in the commodity basket of CPI-IW," he said.

The consumer price index for industrial workers (CPI-IW) was 11.9 per cent in July 2009, reaching its highest at 16.2 per cent in January, before softening to 14.9 per cent in February 2010, Meena said.

The wholesale price index (WPI) is currently nearing the double-digits mark with the March-end figures at 9.90 percent.

To rein in inflation, Meena said, the government has taken several measures which include cutting import duties on certain essential items like rice, wheat, pulses, and banned exports of certain others like non-Basmati rice, edible oils and pulses.