Food inflation climbs again: Govt data

India's food prices at the wholesale level climbed in the second week of January but is still much lower than the near 20% it touched in the initial days of December, data released by the Government showed. The index for Food Articles group rose by 0.4% to 286.7 in the week ended January 16, 2010 compared to 285.6 in the previous week. The annual, point-to-point inflation in Food Articles inched up to 17.40% from 16.81% in the previous week, the Commerce & Industry Ministry said in a statement.

The WPI for the Primary Articles group rose by 0.3% to 285.5 from 284.6 in the previous week. Inflation in the Primary Articles group stood at 14.66% in the week under review versus 13.93% in the preceding week. Inflation in the Primary Articles group was at 10.96% during the week ended January 17, 2009. The index for Non-Food Articles group rose by 0.1% to 258.2 from 257.9 for the previous week. Inflation in the Non-food Articles space rose to 11.53% from 10.40%, while that in Minerals group remained static at -5.18%.

Meanwhile, the index for the Fuel & Power group rose by 0.1% to 350.6 from 350.4 in the previous week. Inflation in the Fuel & Power group declined to 5.70% in the week ended January 16 from 6.34% in the week ended January 9, the Commerce Ministry data showed.

Inflation for the Fuel & Power group was at (-) 0.93% during the corresponding week of the previous year. Inflation in Mineral Oils group increased to 8.66% in the middle of January from 9.78% in the previous week. At the same time, inflation in the Electricity group stood unchanged at 1.95%, the Commerce Ministry data revealed.

The benchmark monthly inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), was 7.31% in December, compared with 4.78% rise in November and 6.15% a year ago. In September it stood as low as 0.5%.