Driven by lower prices of fruits, vegetables, condiments and spices, the rate of inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) declined to 3.01% for the week ended November 10, as against 3.11% the previous week.The rate of inflation stood at 5.39% during the corresponding week in the previous year. Among the major groups, prices of primary articles declined by 0.4% whereas the prices of manufactured products rose by 0.1% from the previous week. However, the index for the fuel group remained unchanged.The government revised inflation rate for the week ended September 15 to 3.51% when compared with 3.23% reported earlier."Oil prices have risen to new high and there is a warning that it will continue to rise. Commodity prices will also continue to be high. This needs to be controlled and inflation rate should not go out of our hands," finance minister P Chidambaram said.The RBI, in its recent mid-term monetary policy review, said it would try to condition inflation expectations in the 4% to 4.5% range, with the medium term target being around 3%.
