India's annual rate of inflation for the week ended 26 July once again rose marginally to settle at 12.01 per cent as against 11.98 per cent in the previous week. This is the first time in more than 13 years that inflation has crossed the 12-per cent mark. On a weekly basis, however, the wholesale price index, which is the basis for measuring inflation, rose only 0.1 per cent to 239.6 from last week’s figure of 239.3. This is consistent with the sluggish rise in weekly inflation over the past few weeks. No particular group of articles exhibited any extraordinary rise in prices either.

The Ministry of Finance said inflation on a week-to-week basis has continued to remain stable. It went on to highlight the fact that in the primary articles’ group, out of a total of 98 articles, 18 articles have shown a decline in prices as compared with the previous week. Similarly, in manufactured goods, out of a total 318 commodities, 299 showed no increase in prices over the last week while the prices of 14 others declined. Also, the annual inflation rate for the group of 30 essential commodities at 6.66 per cent was marginally lower than the inflation of 6.67 per cent in the previous week.

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that inflation was expected to come down to single-digit levels by the end of this fiscal, that is, by March-April next year. Though a lot will depend on external factors such as the possibility of another surge in crude oil prices, analysts are also of the view that the worst of inflation is almost over.

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