Food inflation eases as pulses turn cheaper

Food inflation bucked an upward trend to ease marginally, aided by a base effect and slide in items such as pulses.

Based on the annual Wholesale Price Index, food inflation rose 8.53 per cent during the week ended April 23, lower that the previous week's annual rise of 8.76 per cent.

Fuel index

The fuel price index remained steady at 13.53 per cent during the latest reported week, Government data released on Thursday showed.

Food inflation stood at 20.91 per cent during the corresponding week last year. Broadly, food prices have moderated in the past few weeks but the wholesale level food price index has continued to stay above 8 per cent-mark.

The WPI inflation data for the month of April is slated to be released next week.

Primary articles

According to the latest weekly data, the Primary Articles index was up 12.11 per cent, marginally higher that the previous week's annual rise of 12.08 per cent.

While pulses dipped by 7.39 per cent on a year-on-year basis, all other commodities witnessed a surge.

Cereals climbed 4.42 per cent as rice and wheat recorded higher annual inflation. Fruits and onions showed a sharp uptick, with fruits up over 32 per cent year-on-year while onions rose 16 per cent.

The Reserve Bank of India has raised interest rates by a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points on Tuesday, its ninth rate hike since March 2010, in a bid to moderate stubbornly high inflation.

To deliberate over measures to tame rising prices, the inter-ministerial group (IMG) on inflation is likely to meet on Friday.

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