New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS) India’s annual food inflation surged to 10.05 percent for the week ended Aug 20 as compared to 9.80 percent in the previous week, as prices of onions, vegetables and fruits surged, official data showed Thursday.
Onion price has more than doubled year-on-year. During the week under review, onion was 57.01 percent costlier. Fruits were 21.58 percent costlier and vegetables prices rose 15.78 percent.
The primary articles index, which has a 20.12 percent weight in the wholesale price index, rose by 12.93 percent in the week under review as compared to 12.40 percent in the previous week, according to data released by the commerce and industry ministry.
Surge in inflation gives rise to the speculation that the central bank might hike the rates again in its monetary policy review later this month.
The RBI has hiked key policy rates 11 times since March 2010. In its latest monetary policy review last month, the RBI hiked key policy rates by 50 basis points.
The repurchase rate, the interest the central bank levies on short-term borrowing by commercial banks, has been hiked to 8 percent from 7.5 percent and the reverse repurchase rate, or interest paid on short-term lending, raised to 7 percent from 6.5 percent.
The headline inflation based on wholesale price index was recorded at 9.22 percent in July, marginally lower from 9.44 percent in the previous month.
However, the index for fuels and power, which has a 14.91 percent weight in the wholesale price index, declined to 12.55 percent during the week ended Aug 20 from 13.13 percent in the previous week.
The following are the yearly rise and fall in prices of some main commodities that form the sub-index for food articles:
Onions: 57.01 percent
Vegetables: 15.78 percent
Fruits: 21.58 percent
Potatoes: 13.31 percent
Eggs, meat, fish: 12.62 percent
Cereals: 4.64 percent
Rice: 4.40 percent
Wheat: (-) 2.52 percent
Pulses: (-) 4.16 percent
