Food inflation falls further to 10.63 per cent

The annual rate of inflation based on food prices in India declined sharply to 10,63 per cent during the week ended 5 November 2011 from 11.81 per cent in the previous week following a dip in the prices of items like cereals, milk and poultry products.

The wholesale price-based index stood at 11.41 per cent during the comparable week of the previous year.

Build-up of food inflation so far during the financial year (beginning 1 April 2011) was 11.56 per cent against 9.85 per cent during the similar period of the previous year.

The index for the 'food articles' group declined 0.9 per cent to 199.8 (provisional) during the week ended 5 November 2011 from 201.7 (provisional) in the previous week due to lower prices of fish-fresh water (down 5 per cent), masur (down 4 per cent), poultry chicken (down 3 per cent), fruits and vegetables (down 2 per cent) and ragi, urad, maize, gram, wheat and condiments and spices (down 1 per cent each). However, the prices of bajra (up 3 per cent), jowar (up 2 per cent) and tea (up 1 per cent) moved up.

Inflation rate for the non-food articles group too was lower at 5.33 per cent during the week ended 5 November 2011 against 5.41 per cent during the previous week. It was 24.16 per cent during the comparable week of the previous year.
 
Build-up of inflation for the group so far during the year (beginning 1 April 2011) was (-) 8.24 per cent against 10.89 per cent in the year-before week.

The index for the 'non-food articles' group declined by 0.9 per cent to 175.9 (provisional) during the week ended 5 November 2011 from 177.5 (provisional) during the previous week due to lower prices of logs and timber (down 17 per cent), mesta (down 10 per cent), flowers (down 6 per cent), raw rubber and rape and mustard seed (down 3 per cent each) and raw jute (down 2 per cent). However, the prices of castor seed (up 5 per cent), sunflower (up 2 per cent) and soyabean, linseed and gaur seed (up 1 per cent each) moved up.