Food inflation eased marginally while non-food articles registered a sharp decline during the week ended October 1. The WPI-based annual food inflation rose 9.32 per cent during the latest reported week, lower than the previous week's year-on-year rise of 9.41 per cent, with pulses and potatoes contributing to the dip.
Non-food articles clocked a 9.59 per cent rise, sharply lower than the 10.77 per cent growth recorded in the previous week. The fuel index, though, shot up to over 15 per cent.
The fall in food inflation could be attributed to a moderation in the rate of price rise for some of the items on a week-on-week basis, even though they remained higher on an annual basis.
The fall could also be attributed to the high inflation rate of 17 per cent in the corresponding year-ago period, a phenomenon dubbed the ‘high base effect’ in economic parlance.
According to the data released by the government today, vegetable prices shot up by 13.01 per cent, with prices of potatoes rising by 3.79 per cent on an annual basis, during the week under review.
In addition, milk became 10.35 per cent costlier and fruit prices rose by 12.19 per cent. Protein-based items like eggs, meat and fish also became 9.92 per cent more expensive on an annual basis. Cereals turned dearer by 5.41 per cent, rice by 5.86 per cent and pulses by 6.87 per cent annually.
However, onion prices declined by 10.15 per cent on an annual basis and wheat by 0.24 per cent.
Overall, inflation in primary articles was recorded at 10.60 per cent during the week ended October 1, down from 10.84 per cent in the previous week. Primary articles account for over 20 per cent of wholesale price index inflation.