Inflation eases to 7.48% in Nov

December 14, 2010 12:18 pm | Updated November 28, 2021 09:37 pm IST - New Delhi

A vegetable vendor counts money at a market in Hyderabad. File Photo

A vegetable vendor counts money at a market in Hyderabad. File Photo

A gradual easing in the food price spiral brought down overall inflation to its 11-month low at 7.48 per cent in November from 8.58 per cent in the previous month, raising hopes that it will eventually decline to the desired level of about 5.5-6 per cent by the end of the fiscal.

With this, the Wholesale Price Index-based headline inflation has not only fallen close to its December 2009 low of 7.31 per cent but has also vindicated Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu's projection earlier this month that the overall price spiral would be around 7.50 per cent for November.

Commenting on the WPI data, Pranab Mukherjee said: “I am delighted with the latest headline inflation figures…These numbers take us another step towards our forecast of 6 per cent inflation by March 2011…With WPI inflation declining by more than one percentage point, it now stands at 7.48 per cent. Inflation in food, including primary products and manufactured products, is now down to 6.11 per cent. Last month this was at 9.97 per cent”. Mr. Mukherjee pointed out that the only segment where inflation had gone up was in non-food primary articles owing to increases in the prices of coir fibre, copra, safflower and a few other items. “Fortunately, these goods form a small part of our total product basket and so their overall effect is small,” he said.

Voicing satisfaction over reining in inflation, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said: “inflation is comfortable. I think it does vindicate the government's proposition that we are not facing an accelerating inflation or inflation that is out control”.

The WPI data released here on Tuesday shows that, barring onions which have turned dearer by over 29 per cent on an annual basis, prices of most other food items either declined or changed very little.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.