October wholesale inflation inches up to 7%; highest in FY14

Business

oi-Staff

By Super

Published: Thursday, November 14, 2013, 12:52 [IST]

New Delhi: Costlier food items, including vegetables, pushed the October wholesale inflation to 7 percent, the highest in current financial year.The inflation measured on the wholesale price index (WPI) was 6.46 percent in the previous month and 7.32 percent in the October 2012.

As per the government data released today, rate of price rise in food articles segment was at 18.19 percent in October.The jump in WPI inflation comes after the October retail inflation increased to 10.1 percent, the highest in the past seven months.

WPI inflation is on the rise since April this year. While inflation in the vegetable segment stood at 78.38 percent in October, the rate of price rise in onion continued to remain high at 278.21 percent.

Protein rich items like egg, meat and fish became dearer by 17.47 percent in October as against 13.37 percent in the previous month.

While there was slight moderation in prices of cereals and rice, wheat became dearer in October. The inflation in wheat was at 7.88 percent last month as against 5.9 percent in September. The data further revealed that inflation in the manufactured products has inched up to 2.5 percent versus 2.03 percent in September.

The Reserve Bank had increased its key rate (repo rate) twice in its last two monetary policy reviews with an aim to check high inflation.

PTI