Inflation eases down to 6.39 pc

New Delhi, Apr 8 (UNI) The annual rate of inflation came down to 6.39 per cent for the week ended March 24, after remaining unchanged for the previous two weeks at 6.46 per cent due to a decrease in prices of some food items.

The headline inflation calculated on a point-to-point basis stood at 4.06 per cent during the corresponding week a year ago, official data showed here.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram last week said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should take steps necessary to moderate inflation without affecting growth.

Inflation as measured by the wholesale price index is running at 6.5 per cent annually and the central bank has raised rates, as well as tightened cash availability in the system, to bring it down.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for all commodities for the week ended March 24, rose by 0.2 per cent to 209.8 from 209.4 for the previous week.

The index for the Primary Articles group rose by 0.5 per cent 215.3 from 214.2 for the previous week.

The index for Food Articles group declined marginally to 214.3 from 214.4 for the previous week due to lower prices of tea (4 per cent), barley (3 per cent) and fruits and vegetables (1 per cent).

However, the prices of urad (4 per cent) and gram, masur, fish-inland and condiments and spices (1 per cent each) moved up.

The index for Non-Food Articles group rose by 2.2 per cent to 201.8 from 197.5 for the previous week due to higher prices of raw cotton (13 per cent), castor seed (6 per cent), sunflower (5 per cent), niger seed and raw tobacco (3 per cent each) and soybean and raw rubber (1 per cent each).

However, the prices of raw silk (3 per cent), groundnut seed (2 per cent) and raw jute (1 per cent) declined.

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