Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar today said that food inflation is coming down as prices of sugar, vegetables and pulses are witnessing a steady decline.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of a two-day SAARC workshop here, Chandrasekhar said: "Food inflation if you see, sugar prices have come down, pulses prices have come down, wheat and rice prices are stable, vegetable prices have come down. So, food inflation, even if you take the inflation figures, they have been coming down."
"The percentage of inflation means, what is the current inflation as compared to what it was last year. Last year at this point of time, the inflation rates were particularly low. So, when you compare to last year it even came down to -1.5 per cent. So, if you compare the current rate with last year, you are comparing it with a very low base. Now once the base changes, you will see that the inflation rates also come down. I think predominantly, it is not the high inflation...price inflation that you are seeing, that is more base inflation is coming down," he added.
India's food inflation rates fell to its lowest level in four months at 16.22 per cent for the week, which ended on March 13, from 16.3 per cent the week before.
The annual wholesale price inflation, however, accelerated to 9.89 per cent in February, the highest since October 2008 and well above the Reserve Bank of India''s end-March projection of 8.5 per cent and the 8.56 per cent January reading.
