Food inflation rises to 9.13 pct, Pranab Mukherjee expresses concern

New Delhi, Sep 29 (ANI): With food inflation inching up to 9.13 percent for the week that ended on September 17, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday termed the rise in food inflation to be a matter of grave concern.

"Unfortunately again, food inflation has gone up and it is perilously close to the double digit figure. It has gone up from 8.84 percent last week on 17th September to 9.13 percent. Major contributors are of course the grams-masoor, arhar, urad, poultry chicken and certain other factors," Mukherjee told mediapersons here.

The fuel price index also climbed to 14.69 percent. In the previous week, annual food and fuel inflation stood at 8.84 percent and 13.96 percent respectively.

Mukherjee noted that one of the major groups of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) in fuel, power, light and lubricants has contributed to the rise in inflation.

Mukherjee said that even though the WPI for primary and non-primary articles has declined, but admitted that the near double-digit inflation is a matter of grave concern.

"Out of four major groups, WPI primary articles have declined. WPI non-primary articles have declined substantially from 17 percent almost to 12.89 percent. But food prices are an area of major and grave concern," he said.

Overall, inflation in primary articles stood at 11.43 per cent for the week ending 17th September, compared to 12.17 per cent in the previous week.

According to C. Rangarajan, the chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, the Indian economy is expected to be growing close to eight percent in the current fiscal year to March.

The Reserve Bank of India lifted its policy-lending rate, the repo rate, by 25 basis points to 8.25 percent mid-August, in line with expectations, in a campaign that has done more to slow growth than contain near double-digit inflation.

Headline inflation in addition to food commodities, stood at a 13-month high of 9.78 per cent in August.

Headline inflation is a measure of the total inflation within an economy and is affected by areas of the market, which may experience sudden inflationary spikes. (ANI)