Fall in the prices of diesel and petrol pushed down the rate of inflation, based on the wholesale price index (WPI), to 3.14 per cent for the week ended November 16. Inflation, which had been rising during the last four weeks, fell mainly on account of cheaper oil.
The WPI-based inflation rate stood at 3.27 per cent in the previous week and 2.78 per cent in the corresponding week last year. The inflation rate based on the final index stood at 3.34 per cent for the week ended September 21, as against 3.58 per cent reported earlier.
At the disaggregated level, the index for the group of fuel, power, light and lubricants declined 0.5 per cent mainly due to a 3 per cent fall in the price of high-speed diesel oil and a 2 per cent fall in the price of petrol. The week, however, brought bad news for the aviation sector, with prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) moving up 16 per cent.
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The index for primary articles declined 0.1 per cent, while that for manufactured products rose 0.1 per cent during the week. In the former group, the fall in the index was driven by a fall in prices of food articles. There was a 3 per cent fall in prices of tea and a 2 per cent drop in prices of fruits and vegetables.
Within the group of primary articles, the indices of non-food articles and minerals rose 0.6 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively. Items whose prices rose sharply included copra (9 per cent), niger seed (7 per cent), groundnut seed, rape seed, mustard seed and fodder (2 per cent each).
Prices of ochre went up by 86 per cent, while those of fire clay and dolomite rose by 7 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.
Prices of manufactured products rose due to costlier food products, textiles, chemicals and transport equipment.
Textiles