India food inflation eases, fuel index rises

India’s food inflation rate eased to 8.06 per cent for the week ended May 21 from 8.55 per cent for the previous week, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Thursday.

However, the fuel price index rose to 12.54 percent compared to a rise of 12.11 percent the preceding week.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for the week ended 21st May, 2011 in respect of ?Primary Articles? and ?Fuel & Power? is given below:

PRIMARY ARTICLES (Weight 20.12%)

The index for this major group declined by 0.4 percent to 191.7 (Provisional) from 192.4 (Provisional) for the previous week.

The annual rate of inflation, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 10.87 percent (Provisional) for the week ended 21/05/2011 (over 22/05/2010) as compared to 11.60 percent (Provisional) for the previous week (ended 14/05/2011).

The groups and items for which the index showed variations during the week are as follows:-

The index for ‘Food Articles’ group declined by 0.2 percent to 186.3 (Provisional) from 186.7 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of poultry chicken (7%), barley (3%), fish-marine and maize (2% each) and arhar, urad, egg and fruits & vegetables (1% each). However, the prices of bajra (3%), gram (2%) and milk, jowar and ragi (1% each) moved up.

The index for ‘Non-Food Articles’ group declined by 1.0 percent to 183.3 (Provisional) from 185.2 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of logs & timber (34%), raw silk (7%), gingelly seed and gaur seed (5% each), raw rubber (3%), mesta (2%) and fodder, raw jute, sunflower and niger seed (1% each). However, the prices of rape & mustard seed (3%), soyabean (2%) and castor seed (1%) moved up.

FUEL & POWER (Weight 14.91%)

The index for this major group rose by 0.4 percent to 160.7 (Provisional) from 160.1 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of petrol (9%) and bitumen (4%). However, the prices of aviation turbine fuel (3%), naphtha (2%) and light diesel oil (1%) declined.

The annual rate of inflation, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 12.54 percent (Provisional) for the week ended 21/05/2011 (over 22/05/2010) as compared to 12.11 percent (Provisional) for the previous week (ended 14/05/2011).