Inflation up to 9.06 percent in May

New Delhi, June 14: Headline inflation in the country went up to 9.06 per cent in May on the back of rising manufactured products and petrol prices, which is expected to prompt the Reserve Bank to go for another rate hike at its mid-quarterly policy review meeting later this week.

Inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 8.66 per cent in April. It had stood at 10.48 per cent in May, 2010.

Meanwhile, as per data released by the government today, overall inflation in March this year has been revised upward to 9.68 per cent from the provisional 9.04 per cent.

As per the latest data, prices of manufactured products, which have a weight of around 65 per cent in the WPI basket, went up by 7.27 per cent year-on-year in May.

Manufacturing inflation has been steadily rising since February this year, when it crossed the 6 per cent mark. It was 6.18 per cent in April.

As per the data released today, inflation in the fuel and power segment, which has a weight of almost 15 per cent in the WPI basket, stood at 12.32 per cent year-on-year. This showed a slight moderation from the 13.32 per cent rate reported in April.

However, the rate hike of over Rs 5 in petrol prices by state-owned old marketing companies in mid-May had a visible impact, with prices of the item going up by 27.31 per cent on an annual basis.

During the month under review, primary articles went up by 11.30 per cent on an annual basis as against 12.05 per cent in the previous month. Primary articles have a share of around 20 per cent in the overall WPI basket.

PTI