Manufactured products bring inflation to 3.55 pc

New Delhi, Apr 30: The annual rate of inflation rose to 3.55 per cent for the week ended April 15, as against 3.24 per cent during the previous week due to rise in prices of manufactured products and energy.

The inflation rate, calculated on point-to-point basis, stood at 5.91 per cent during the corresponding week of the previous year, according to official figures.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for all commodities for the week ended April 15, rose by 0.5 per cent to 198.5 from 197.6 for the previous week.

India's inflation is running below the Reserve Bank of India's projection for 5-5.5 per cent at the end of the fiscal year on March 31, 2006.

The index for the Primary Articles group declined by 0.4 per cent to 194.3 from 195.1 for the previous week.

The index for Food Articles group went down by 0.6 per cent to 196.7 from 197.9 for the previous week due to lower prices of poultry chicken (6 per cent), wheat and barley (4 per cent each) and fruits and vegetables and bajra (2 per cent each).

However, the prices of fish-marine (6 per cent), moong and eggs (4 per cent each) and maize and gram (1 per cent each) moved up.

The index for Non-Food Articles group rose by 0.8 per cent to 176.6 from 175.2 for the previous week due to higher prices of sunflower (6 per cent), raw rubber (5 per cent), raw cotton (2 per cent) and groundnut seed, castor seed and niger seed (1 per cent each).

However, the prices of linseed, rape and mustard seed, soyabean, cotton seed, raw jute and mesta (1 per cent each) declined.

UNI