Food Inflation touches 9.13%, FM expresses concern

Rohit Dhyani: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today described food inflation as an area of “grave Concern” for the government.

Food inflation has nearly touched the double digits by jumping from 8.84 last week to 9.13 due to price hike in daily items like potatoes, pulses and poultry.

Terming food inflation as an area of concern, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherje said "These fluctuations are taking place and it is one of the areas of grave concern”.

The wholesale price index (WPI) for non-food articles has come down sharply from 17.42% to 12.89% during the week. "As a result, WPI inflation in primary articles has declined. But fuel and power, light and lubricants, they have also contributed (to rising inflation)," he said.

While prices of onions eased marginally during the week, gram, masoor, arhar, urad and poultry rates firmed up on an annual basis, as per WPI data released by the government today.