Inflation dips to 4.3 per cent

Manufactured goods index fell by 0.6% to 171.4 from 172.5% previous week.

Inflation for the week ended January 28 declined marginally to 4.30 per cent compared with 4.51 per cent for the previous week, mainly on account of a fall in the prices of manufactured goods.

The index for manufactured goods fell by 0.6 per cent to 171.4 from 172.5 previous week.

"The fall in the index for manufactured goods does not indicate a systemic slowdown, and may be a temporary phenomenon," said DK Joshi, economic adviser, CRISIL.

The index for the machinery and machine tools group declined by 5.1 per cent due to lower prices of blooms, billets, slabs (21 per cent each), and wires (18 per cent).

The index for the food articles, however, rose by 0.2 per cent, due to higher prices of jowar and arhar, (five per cent each) and moong dal, which grew by 3 per cent. Inflation stood at 5.14 per cent in the corresponding week last year.

The wholesale price index declined by 0.3 per cent to 196.4, compared with 197.0 for the previous week. For the week ended December 3, the final wholesale price index stood at 197.6, compared with the provisional estimate of 197.8.