Marginal increase in the price of vegetables, coupled with sharp hike in pulses, canned fish and tanning materials, pushed up the inflation by 0.19 per cent to 1.44 per cent for the week ended April 20. Commodity price change, as measured by Wholesale Price Index (WPI), was, however, 5.54 per cent in the previous year and the recent rise was despite price dip for fish-marine, fish-inland, poultry chicken, salt, coconut oil and cement. But WPI rose by 0.2 per cent to 162.4 as compared to 161 in the previous week mainly due to manufactured products and the index was 160.1 a year ago.
The final WPI stood marginally higher at 161 for the week ended February 23, as compared to the provisional level of 160.6, while the final inflation was 1.58 per cent as against the provisional level of 1.32 per cent. The All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers rose by two points to 468 in March due to price hike in goat meat, groundnut oil, milk, vegetables and fruits, kerosene oil and clothing items, while final inflation fell from 5.19 per cent in February to 5.17 per cent in March. Bureau Report