New Delhi: Inflation up 6.09 percent

New Delhi, Apr 20: The annual rate of inflation rose to 6.09 per cent for the week ended April 7, from 5.74 per cent for the last week.

The headline inflation calculated on a point-to-point basis stood at 3.81 per cent during the corresponding week a year ago, official data showed here today.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram yesterday has asked public sector banks to go slow on disbursals of home and other consumption loans to help fight inflation.

''We have advised banks that credit growth of about 30 per cent has to be moderated therefore they have to rebalance their portfolio and moderate credit growth to what RBI calls high-risk sectors like commercial real estate, capital markets and systemetically important NBFCs,'' he said.

He said if banks raise bulk deposits at high cost in February and March this year, they will do it again in February and March next year.

UNI