Food inflation jumps to 17.05 pc on costlier vegetables

New Delhi, Feb 3 (PTI) Food inflation soared to 17.05 percent for the week ended January 22, rising for the secondstraight week, on the back of costlier vegetables, fruits andmilk.

Food inflation rose by 1.48 percentage points from 15.57per cent in the previous week. The food inflation last yearhad stood at 20.56 per cent.

On an annual basis, onion prices rose by 130.41 per centin the third week of January, although they have moderatedconsiderably in the recent days.

Vegetables as a whole have became dearer by 77.05 percent on an annual basis as potato prices rose by 6.22 percent.

Fruits and milk became costlier by 15.47 per cent and11.41 per cent on a year on year basis respectively, datareleased by the government showed.

In the non-food items, fuel inflation rose by 0.66 percent during the week after the oil marketing companies raisedpetrol prices by about Rs 2.50 a litre.

"Fuel and Power" category showed an increase of 11.61 percent year-on-year.

The uptick in latest food inflation figure is likely toput further pressure on the government grappling withexpensive food commodities and a slowing industrial growththat dipped to the 18-month low of 2.7 per cent for November.

The overall inflation for December rose to 8.43 percent, from 7.48 per cent in the previous month.

The RBI has projected the headline inflation to be at 7per cent by March end.