Inflation goes north,spikes to 9.89 pct

India’s wholesale price index rose 9.89 per cent in February from a year earlier,driven by higher food prices,government data showed on Monday.

It was higher than a median forecast of a 9.62 per cent rise in a Reuters poll and was higher than the previous month’s annual rise of 8.56 per cent.

At its January policy review,the RBI raised its WPI inflation projection for end-March 2010 to 8.5 per cent.