Inflation climbs to 12.63%

India's inflation, based on the wholesale price index (WPI), climbed to a 16-year high in the second week of August, mainly due to rising food prices, raising concerns about a possible tightening of monetary policy over the next few months. The annual point-to-point inflation rose to 12.63% in the week ended August 9 from 12.44% in the previous week, the Commerce Ministry said. The WPI moved up marginally by 0.12%, to 240.7 from 240.4 in the week ending August 2. In the ‘Primary Articles’ group, the annual inflation increased to 11.83% from 11.43% reported last week. In the commodity group ‘Fuel & Power’ group, the rate of inflation at 17.99% remained unchanged at previous week’s level. Prices of all the 19 commodities remained unchanged. In the case of ‘Manufactured Products’, inflation increased to 10.91% from 10.75% in previous two weeks. Inflation rate for 30 essential commodities increased slightly to 6.74% from 6.54% in the previous week. Prices of these commodities, which include foodgrains, pulses, edible oils, vegetables, dairy products etc have more or less stabilised.