India's inflation rate marginally lower at 8.58 per cent in October

The annual rate of inflation in the country based on the wholesale price index stood at 8.58 per cent (provisional) in October 2010 against 8.62 per cent (provisional) in the previous month and 1.48 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year.

The weekly inflation rate based on the wholesale price index of food articles had also shown a marginal decline at 12.30 per cent (provisional) during the week ended 30 October 2010 from 12.85 per cent (provisional) in the previous week.

The official wholesale price index (WPI) for 'all commodities' (base 2004-05 = 100) for October 2010 rose 0.4 per cent to 141.7 (provisional) from 141.1 (provisional) in the previous month.

The index for the `primary articles' group rose 0.8 per cent to 181.2 (provisional) from 179.7 (provisional) in the previous month.

Among primary articles, the index for the 'food articles' group rose 0.6 per cent to 180.1 (provisional) from 179.0  (provisional) in the previous month due to higher prices of beef and buffalo meat (6 per cent), barley (5 per cent),      pork and fruits and vegetables (4 per cent each), tea (3 per cent), jowar and gram (2 per cent each) and ragi and milk (1 per cent each). However, the prices of fish-marine (-6 per cent), fish-inland (-3 per cent), arhar, masur and bajra (-2 per cent each) and poultry chicken, moong and maize (-1 per cent each) declined.

The index for the 'non-food articles' group rose 2.7 per cent to 161.4 (provisional) from 157.2 (provisional) in the previous month due to higher prices of copra and raw jute (13 per cent each), raw cotton (9 per cent), raw rubber (7 per cent), gaur seed, rose, coir fibre, niger seed and mesta (4 per cent each), fodder, raw silk and sunflower (3 per cent each), safflower and linseed (2 per cent each) and gingelly seed, rape and mustard seed and jasmine (1 per cent each).