Inflation grows by 7%; food, minerals dearer
Inflation grows by 7%; food, minerals dearer
New Delhi: Inflation galloped to 7% for the week ended 22 March, on higher prices of food, vegetables, minerals and manufactured items, even as measures to tame prices are expected to take effect only in 2-3 weeks.
Inflation growth in the previous week was 6.68% and was 6.54% in the corresponding week a year-ago.
On Monday, the government decided to abolish import duty on crude form of edible oils, cut rate on refined edible oils and ban non-basmati rice exports among other measures to ease the pressure off prices.
However, Manila-based Asian Development Bank expects these measures to influence prices only by the month end.
The high rate of inflation could also prompt Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to take monetary measures, like hike in interest rate or tighten money supply through hike in CRR.
During the week, prices of fruits and vegetable, pulses, cereals, eggs, meat and fish went up, while condiments and spices were cheaper. The mineral category-index shot up by 38.2% driven by 46% rise in prices of iron ore.
In the manufactured items category, sunflower oil, vanaspati, butter, mustard oil, sugar and groundnut oil became expensive, while prices of ghee, coconut oil mellowed down by 1% each.
At the same time, prices of steel ingots, alloy steel casting were higher. However, car chassis moved down by 1%.
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