India's food price inflation a tad lower at 8.53 per cent

Food price inflation in the country, which firmed up over the past two weeks eased a bit and stood at 8.53 per cent during the week ended 23 April 2011 against 8.76 per cent in the previous week.

Food price inflation in the country stood at 20.91 per cent during the comparable week of the previous year.

While the index for the 'food articles' group as a whole increased slightly, the prices of gram, masur and arhar declined.

Food articles have a weight of 14.34 in the wholesale price index (WPI) of commodities while primary articles have a weight of 20.12, non-food articles a weight of 4.26 and fuel and power group a weight of 14.91.

Build-up of inflation for the `food articles' group so far during the current financial year (beginning 1 April 2011) was 2.79 per cent against 3.41 per cent in the similar period of the previous year.

The index for the 'food articles' group rose 1.0 per cent to 184.5 (provisional) from 182.6 (provisional) in the previous week due to higher prices of fruits and vegetables (up 4 per cent), barley (up 3 per cent), jowar (up 2 per cent) and bajra, urad, ragi, condiments and spices and fish (up 1 per cent each). However, the prices of gram, masur and arhar (down 1 per cent each) declined.