Inflation rises again to 7.33 per cent

New Delhi, Apr 25 : Data released by the Ministry of Industry for the week ending April 12, shows inflation rising again to 7.33 per cent from 7.14 per cent in the previous week, largely due to food items being highly priced.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to further tighten money supply when it announces its annual credit policy on April 29.

The RBI has already increased the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), the amount of funds that the banks have to keep with the RBI, by 0.5 per cent to check money supply.

The prices of certain essential commodities like vegetables, cereals, pulses and edible oils have come down during the week because of slew of measures taken by the Government to bring prices under control.

The annual rate of inflation had touched a three year high of 7.41 per cent for the week ending March 29 and dipped to 7.14 per cent for the week ended April 5.

Inflation for the corresponding period last year was at 6.34 per cent.

Meanwhile, leaders of Left parties today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded urgent measures to check the price rise.

"We want the price rise to be curbed immediately. We have placed six demands before the Prime Minister and hope the government will take immediate steps to implement them," Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat told reporters.

On Wednesday, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram told the Rajya Sabha that the Government is looking at legal and administrative measures to deal with cement manufacturers and steel producers to contain inflation.

ANI