Food inflation eases further to 12.30 percent

NEW DELHI - India’s annual food inflation dropped to 12.30 percent for the week ended Oct 30 from 12.85 percent during the previous week - showing a downward trend for the fourth straight week.

The annual inflation rate for the primary articles group declined to 14.87 percent during the week under review from 15.43 percent recorded in the previous week, according to official data released Thursday.

However, fuels and power inflation remained unchanged at 10.67 percent during the week under review.

Inflation has eased in the last few weeks on aggressive monetary tightening policy adopted by the country’s central bank.

In its second-quarter review of monetary policy Nov 2, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised interest rates for the sixth time to tame inflation.

The RBI hiked repurchase rate from 6 percent to 6.25 percent and reverse repurchase rate from 5 percent to 5.25 percent Nov 2.

Following are the rise and fall in prices of some of the main commodities that form the sub-index for food articles over the past 52 weeks:

Cereals: 3.44 percent

Rice: 3.11 percent

Wheat: 2.81 percent

Pulses: (-) 3.45 percent

Vegetables: (-) 6.42 percent

Fruits: 18.45 percent

Milk: 21.72 percent

Potatoes: (-) 53.28 percent

Onions: 8.02 percent