India`s Inflation For W.e May 12 Drops To 5.27% From 5.44% A Week Ago, Friday, May 25, 2007 7:50:26 AM

Friday, the 25th May, the Central Statistical Office, GOI, while releasing its customary inflation data said that the annual rate of inflation based on wholesale prices for the week ended 12/05/2007 provisionally fell to 5.27% from 5.44% a week ago. The annual rate of inflation stood at 4.63% as on 13/05/2006 i.e. a year ago. India`s inflation has been steadily coming down of late from the peak 6,77% in early 2007, in line with the government`s intentions and pronouncements. The RBI`s pro -active gestures to rein in inflation are showing visible results of late and moving toward the targeted number of 5% in the mid term of this fiscal and 4 to 4.5% in the long term.

The communiquй added that the official Wholesale Price Index for `All Commodities` for the week ended 12/05/07 provisionally rose by 0.1% to 211.7 from 211.4% for the previous week. The main index for Primary articles, which has a weightage of 22.02%, rose by 0.5% from the previous week due to higher prices of naphtha and aviation turbine fuel. However, the prices of bitumen declined. Among the Primary articles, the sub index for `Food Articles` group rose by 0.7% due to higher prices of eggs, fruits & vegetables, milk and jowar. However, the prices of maize declined. The sub index for `Non-Food Articles` group among Primary articles rose marginally to 203.4 from 203.3 for the previous week due to higher prices of raw wool and sunflower. However, the prices of raw jute declined. The index for the major group of Fuel, Power, Light & Lubricants, with an overall weightage of 14.23% was unchanged at its previous week`s level of 321.8. The index of Manufactured Products, which has a major weightage of 63.75% in the computation, rose by 0.1% from the previous week.

Among the various sub groups that make up the manufactured products group, the index for `Food Products` group declined by 0.6%, the index for `Textiles` group declined by 0.1% and the index for `Paper & Paper Products` group declined by 0.1%.On the other hand, the index for `Rubber & Plastic Products` group rose by 0.6%and the index for `Chemicals & Chemical Products` group rose by 0.1%. The index for `Basic Metals Alloys & Metal Products` group rose by 0.9% and the index for `Machinery & Machine Tools` group rose by 0.2%.

Changes in provisional figures

The CSO added that, the final wholesale price index for `All Commodities` stood at 209.6 for the week ended 17/03/2007 as compared to the provisionally announced figures of 209.4 and annual rate of inflation based on final index, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 6.56% as compared to the provisional 6.46%.

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