New Delhi: Inflation unchanged at 6.09 pc

New Delhi, Apr 29: After breaching the six per cent mark for two consecutive weeks, the headline inflation rate remained unaltered for the week ended April 14 at 6.09 per cent.

The annual rate of inflation stood at 3.70 per cent during the corresponding week a year ago, official data showed here today.

Finance minister P Chidambaram has earlier said that the Reserve Bank's annual monetary policy will moderate inflation without hurting growth, while providing relief to small housing loan borrowers.

''We must moderate inflation without affecting growth. Both are important - moderate inflation and high growth. And I think that RBI's annual monetary policy is broadly in line with government's thinking. These steps would moderate inflation without affecting growth,'' he added.

He said the desired inflation projection of RBI at 4.5 per cent was aggressive.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for all commodities for the week ended April 14, rose by 0.05 per cent to 210.9 from 210.8 for the previous week.

The index for the primary articles group rose by 0.1 per cent to 219.1 from 218.9 for the previous week.

The index for food articles group declined to 218.5 from 218.6 for the previous week due to lower prices of eggs and barley (three per cent each), fruits and vegetables (two per cent) and urad and pork (one per cent each).

However, the prices of fish-marine (10 per cent), poultry chicken (three per cent), gram (two per cent) and condiments and spices, bajra, arhar and moong (one per cent) moved up.

The index for non-food articles group rose by 0.4 per cent to 204.8 from 204.0 for the previous week due to higher prices of groundnut seed and castor seed (two per cent each).

However, the prices of gingelly seed and sunflower (one per cent each) declined.

The index for fuel, power, light and lubricants group declined marginally to 320.4 from 320.5 for the previous week due to marginal fall in the prices of naphta. The index for manufactured products group rose by 0.1 per cent to 183.6 from 183.5 for the previous week. The index for food products group rose by 0.2 per cent to 187.1 from 186.8 for the previous week due to higher prices of groundnut oil (four per cent), cotton seed oil (three per cent), and imported edible oil and rice bran oil (two per cent each).

However, the prices of coconut oil (four per cent) and rape and mustard (one per cent) declined.

The index for textiles group declined by 0.1 per cent to 133.0 from 133.1 for the previous week due to lower prices of hessian cloth and hessian and sacking bags (two per cent each).

The index for chemicals and chemicals products group rose by 0.1 per cent to 197.5 from 197.4 for the previous week due to the higher prices of phenol (four per cent) and caustic soda (one per cent).

The index for non-metallic mineral products group rose by 0.4 per cent to 202.4 from 201.6 for the previous week due to higher prices of cement (one per cent).

The index for 'basic metals alloys and metal products group declined marginally to 242.1 from 242.2 for the previous week due to lower prices of brass sheets and strips (10 per cent).

However, the prices of zinc ingots and ferro silicon (four per cent each) and lead ingots (one per cent) moved up.

The index for 'machinery and machine tools' group rose by 0.1 per cent to 162.3 from 162.2 for the previous week due to marginal rise in the prices of other pumps and dry cell.

UNI