Inflation crosses 6% mark as food and manu products get dearer

New Delhi, Feb 2 (UNI) The headline inflation rate once again breached the upper limit of the RBI of 5.5 per cent to stand at 6.11 per cent for the week ended January 20, second time in the past three weeks on account of higher prices of manufactured products and foods.

The annual rate of inflation, calculated on a point-to-point basis, slowed down to 5.95 per cent last week while it stood at 4.24 per cent during the corresponding week of the previous year.

Concerned over the surging inflation which was recorded at a two-year high of 6.12 per cent for the week ended January 13, the Reserve Bank of India this week hiked the short-term repo rate by 0.25 per cent to 7.5 per cent to infuse liquidity in the system.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for all commodities for the week ended January 20, rose by 0.1 per cent to 208.5 from 208.3 for the previous week.

The index for the Primary Articles group rose by 0.2 per cent to 213.7 from 213.2 for the previous week.

The index for Food Articles group rose by 0.4 per cent to 214.6 from 213.8 for the previous week due to higher prices of egg and condiments and spices (4 per cent), arhar (2 per cent) and moong, jowar, fruits and vegetables, maize, masur and fish-marine (1 per cent each).

However, the prices of bajra (3 per cent) and fish-inland, ragi and wheat (1 per cent) declined.

The index for Non-Food articles group rose by 0.3 per cent to 195.0 from 194.4 for the previous week due to higher prices of castor seed (10 per cent), raw wool (2 per cent) and sugarcane and raw tobacco (1 per cent each).

However, the prices of raw silk (2 per cent) declined.

MORE UNI