Inflation rate climbs to 8.56 per cent in January

The annual rate of inflation based wholesale price index (WPI) stood at 8.56 per cent (provisional) in January 2010 against 7.31 per cent (provisional) in the previous month and 4.95 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year.

Inflation built up so far this financial year was 8.90 per cent against 1.51 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

The index for the primary articles group rose 0.2 per cent to 284.7 (provisional) from 284.1 (provisional) in the previous month.

Among primary articles, the index for the 'food articles' group declined 0.7 per cent to 286.4 (provisional) from 288.4 (provisional) in the previous month, due to lower prices of fruits and vegetables and tea (-9 per cent each) and gram and maize (-1 per cent each). However, the prices of masur (9 per cent), fish-marine (6 per cent), arhar (5 per cent), wheat (4 per cent), moong, barley and eggs (3 per cent each), bajra and coffee (2 per cent each) and milk, ragi, jowar, rice, pork and condiments and spices (1 per cent each) moved up.
 
The index for the 'non-food articles' group rose 2.7 per cent to 256.3 (provisional) from 249.5 (provisional) in the previous month, due to higher prices of soyabean (16 per cent), mesta (15 per cent), niger seed (8 per cent), tobacco and sunflower (7 per cent each), gingelly seed (6 per cent), raw rubber and raw silk (3 per cent each), fodder and sugarcane (2 per cent each) and raw cotton, rape and mustard seed, cotton seed and groundnut seed (1 per cent each).  However, the prices of skins (raw) and castor seed (-4 per cent each) declined. (See: Food price inflation nears 18 per cent )

The index for the 'minerals' group rose 0.6 per cent to 591.6 (provisional) from 588.1 (provisional) in the previous month, due to higher prices of fire clay (37 per cent), dolomite (34 per cent), asbestos (20 per cent), gypsum (19 per cent), chromite (14 per cent), steatite (12 per cent), felspar (10 per cent), phosphorite (7 per cent), barytes (6 per cent) and fluorite (1 per cent). However, the prices of vermiculite (-39 per cent), ochre (- 16 per cent) and magnesite (-2 per cent) declined.

The index for the `fuel, power, light and lubricants' group rose 1.8 per cent to 351.5 (provisional) from 345.2 (provisional) in the previous month, due to higher prices of naphtha (21 per cent), furnace oil (6 per cent), bitumen, non-coking coal and light diesel oil (3 per cent each) and coking coal (2 per cent). However, the prices of aviation turbine fuel (-4 per cent) declined.