India's inflation climbs to 20-week high

India's key inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), climbed to its highest level in 20 weeks mainly due to a spurt in prices of primary food articles. The inflation stood at 1.21% during the week-ended October 10, the highest since May 23 when it was 1.34%. The latest headline inflation estimate was higher than the previous week’s 0.92% annual rise. Inflation was recorded at 11.3% during the corresponding week of the previous year. The official WPI for ‘All Commodities’ for the latest week rose by 0.1% to 242.2 points from 241.9 points in the previous week. Inflation for the Primary Articles group rose to 8.62% from 8.30% while that for the Fuel & Power group was flat at (-)6.80% and for the Manufactured Products group was at 1.26% versus 0.87% in the preceding week. Inflation for Food Articles group stood unchanged at 13.34% from the previous week while that for the Non-food Articles group inched higher to (-)1.17% from (-)2.06%. The inflation build up in the financial year so far is 5.95% compared with a build up of 5.56% in the corresponding period a year ago. The 52-week average inflation for the latest week was 2.49%. The Government revised the inflation rate for the week ended August 15, to (-)0.21% from the preliminary forecast of (-)0.95% while the final WPI for the same period stood at 240.6 points compared with the provisional estimate of 238.8 points.