India's annual rate of inflation inched up to 0.7 percent for the week ended April 25 from 0.57 percent the week before, official data showed Friday.
Among the three main commodity groups, the indices for manufactured products and primary articles rose 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, during the week under review.
The index for fuel, power, light and lubricants remained unchanged at its previous week's level of 323 (provisional).
The inflation rate based on official wholesale price index had declined for eight consecutive weeks to 0.27 percent for the week ended March 14, but marginally rose to 0.31 percent for the week ended March 21.
It then declined for two consecutive weeks, before rising again for the next three weeks to stand at 0.7 percent for the week ended April 25.
Between April 18 and April 25, the wholesale price index rose 0.2 percent to 230.7 from 230.2 the week before, as per the provisional data released by the commerce and industry ministry.
Sriram Khanna, head of the commerce department at Delhi School of Economics, predicted the inflation rate to continue to rise and cross 5 percent by October-end during festive season. "But it will stabilise at 4 percent by the end of this fiscal."
Khanna said despite good crop production, consumption is yet to pick up. "We expect it to rise only in the second quarter of this fiscal," he said.
Dalip Kumar, head of projects at the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), said though the economy was growing at a very slow pace, the marginal rise in the rate of inflation did not match the exorbitant prices of food commodities and vegetables.
Showing posts with label Inflation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inflation. Show all posts
Friday, May 8, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
India's inflation rate dips to 5.07 percent
India's annual rate of inflation dropped to 5.07 percent for the week ended Jan 24 from 5.64 percent the week before, fresh official data released here Thursday showed.
The inflation rate was 4.78 percent during the corresponding week the previous year.
Going by provisional figures, the wholesale price index (WPI) for all commodities declined 0.2 percent to 230.1 from 230.5 the week before.
The index for primary articles also declined 0.1 percent to 249 (provisional) from 249.1 the previous week, while that for manufactured products declined 0.5 percent (provisional) to 200.8 from 201.8.
The index for fuel, power, light and lubricants rose 0.6 percent to 332 (provisional) from 330 last week due to higher prices of furnace oil and diesel.
Attributing the drop in the rate of rising prices to cyclical factors, K. Ponnukannu, a senior advisor in the commerce ministry, said the inflation rate would drop further on account of the reduction in the prices of petroleum fuels last month.
The government had permitted state-run oil retail firms to cut prices of petrol by Rs.5 a litre, and diesel by Rs.2 per litre and cooking gas by Rs.25 per cylinder.
D.K. Joshi, principal economist at credit rating agency Crisil said the fall in inflation was not surprising.
"There was a marginal rise in inflation due to trucker's strike early last month. That aberration has been corrected now," he said, adding that the inflation rate would continue to dip.
Dalip Kumar of think tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) said the market was "flooded" with vegetables and fruits because of which food inflation was bound to drop.
The inflation rate was 4.78 percent during the corresponding week the previous year.
Going by provisional figures, the wholesale price index (WPI) for all commodities declined 0.2 percent to 230.1 from 230.5 the week before.
The index for primary articles also declined 0.1 percent to 249 (provisional) from 249.1 the previous week, while that for manufactured products declined 0.5 percent (provisional) to 200.8 from 201.8.
The index for fuel, power, light and lubricants rose 0.6 percent to 332 (provisional) from 330 last week due to higher prices of furnace oil and diesel.
Attributing the drop in the rate of rising prices to cyclical factors, K. Ponnukannu, a senior advisor in the commerce ministry, said the inflation rate would drop further on account of the reduction in the prices of petroleum fuels last month.
The government had permitted state-run oil retail firms to cut prices of petrol by Rs.5 a litre, and diesel by Rs.2 per litre and cooking gas by Rs.25 per cylinder.
D.K. Joshi, principal economist at credit rating agency Crisil said the fall in inflation was not surprising.
"There was a marginal rise in inflation due to trucker's strike early last month. That aberration has been corrected now," he said, adding that the inflation rate would continue to dip.
Dalip Kumar of think tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) said the market was "flooded" with vegetables and fruits because of which food inflation was bound to drop.
Friday, May 2, 2008
India's inflation rate now at 42-month high
India's annual rate of inflation shot up to a 42-month high of 7.57 percent for the week ended April 19, even as Finance Minister P. Chidambaram appealed to the people Friday to remain calm with an assurance that prices will be tamed soon.
The inflation rate moved to the new 42-month peak from 7.33 percent for the week ended April 12 because of an overall increases in prices of both food and non-food articles, fresh data on the official whole sale price index showed.
Significantly, the statistics further revealed that the actual inflation rate for the week ended Feb 23 was 5.69 percent as against 5.02 percent reported earlier based on provisional data, thereby indicating that the same could hold true for the latest data as well.
The rising prices has become a major embarrassment for the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government going into an election year, with both the opposition and the supporting Left parties blaming it for, what they said was, gross inaction in dealing with the situation.
Amid rising prices, Chidambaram said in Bangalore Friday that all necessary steps, both monetary and administrative, were being taken to bring down prices. "The inflation will be tamed. Food prices will come down sooner than other prices," the finance minister told reporters.
The fresh inflation data comes in the backdrop of another set of administrative and monetary measures announced this week to rein in prices, including a further hike of 25 basis points in cash reserve ratio by the central bank to check the money supply in the system.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also appealed to the Indian industry to help the government in fighting inflation and called upon the corporate sector to tighten their belts to help check price rise and inflationary expectations.
"A measure of sobriety in corporate lifestyles and compensation can also help cut costs and maintain the price level. This is what I mean by the tightening of belts. It helps your firms, it helps the consumer," he had told industry leaders at a conference Tuesday.
As policy makers sought to tackle the situation head on, Chidambaram had Tuesday imposed export duties on steel, cement and basmati rice and lowered tariffs on some raw materials. Export of Non-basmati rice had already been barred earlier.
In the concluding speech on the Finance Bill, 2008 - which was later passed by the Lok Sabha, he also made import of pig iron, mild steel products and semi finished products duty free against the current tariff of five percent.
The minister also imposed an export duty of Rs.8,000 per tonne on basmati rice, scrapped import duties on zinc and metallurgical coal and levied a 12 percent duty on cement costing Rs.250 per bag and higher.
Indo-Asian News Service
The inflation rate moved to the new 42-month peak from 7.33 percent for the week ended April 12 because of an overall increases in prices of both food and non-food articles, fresh data on the official whole sale price index showed.
Significantly, the statistics further revealed that the actual inflation rate for the week ended Feb 23 was 5.69 percent as against 5.02 percent reported earlier based on provisional data, thereby indicating that the same could hold true for the latest data as well.
The rising prices has become a major embarrassment for the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government going into an election year, with both the opposition and the supporting Left parties blaming it for, what they said was, gross inaction in dealing with the situation.
Amid rising prices, Chidambaram said in Bangalore Friday that all necessary steps, both monetary and administrative, were being taken to bring down prices. "The inflation will be tamed. Food prices will come down sooner than other prices," the finance minister told reporters.
The fresh inflation data comes in the backdrop of another set of administrative and monetary measures announced this week to rein in prices, including a further hike of 25 basis points in cash reserve ratio by the central bank to check the money supply in the system.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also appealed to the Indian industry to help the government in fighting inflation and called upon the corporate sector to tighten their belts to help check price rise and inflationary expectations.
"A measure of sobriety in corporate lifestyles and compensation can also help cut costs and maintain the price level. This is what I mean by the tightening of belts. It helps your firms, it helps the consumer," he had told industry leaders at a conference Tuesday.
As policy makers sought to tackle the situation head on, Chidambaram had Tuesday imposed export duties on steel, cement and basmati rice and lowered tariffs on some raw materials. Export of Non-basmati rice had already been barred earlier.
In the concluding speech on the Finance Bill, 2008 - which was later passed by the Lok Sabha, he also made import of pig iron, mild steel products and semi finished products duty free against the current tariff of five percent.
The minister also imposed an export duty of Rs.8,000 per tonne on basmati rice, scrapped import duties on zinc and metallurgical coal and levied a 12 percent duty on cement costing Rs.250 per bag and higher.
Indo-Asian News Service
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