The annual point-to-point inflation rate based on the wholesale price index (WPI) fell to 3.58 per cent as against 4.03 per cent in the previous week.
The decline in the rate of inflation was on account of lower prices of primary articles and manufactured products.
In the previous week, the inflation rate had crossed the 4 per cent mark after almost a year.
The level could rise next week onwards on account of the low-base effect. The rate of inflation has been declining between October 2001 and February 2002.
Inflation in the corresponding week last year was 4.79 per cent, an official release said.
The inflation rate for the week ended July 27, 2002 was 3.04 per cent as against the earlier reported 2.85 per cent on the basis of the provisional index.
At a disaggregated level, the prices of primary articles fell 0.4 per cent, while those for manufactured products fell 0.2 per cent during the week.
Prices of the third major group, fuel, power, light and lubricants rose 0.4 per cent due to a 2 per cent hike in the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel.
In the primary articles group, the prices of food and non-food articles fell 0.3 per cent and 0.7 per cent.
Items whose prices fell sharply include niger seed (7 per cent), chicken, raw silk and gingelly seed (6 per cent), fish (5 per cent), bajra and maize (4 per cent each).
In the group of manufactured products, the index for food products fell sharply by 1.2 per cent on account of a 12 per cent fall in prices of solvent extracted groundnut oil, a 9 per cent decline in rice bran oil prices, a 5 per cent fall in prices of oil cakes and a 2 per cent cut in prices of groundnut oil and sunflower oil.
The indices for paper and paper products fell 0.2 per cent, while those for chemicals and chemical products and machinery and machine tools fell 0.1 per cent each.
However, the index for transport equipment and parts rose 0.4 per cent, while that for basic metals, alloys and metal products rose 0.2 per cent during the week.
