The annual wholesale price-based inflation fell by 0.22 per cent to 4.69 per cent for the week ended March 1.
The point-to-point price change, as measured by wholesale price index (WPI), fell from the previous week's level of 4.91 per cent. It was 1.95 per cent in the same period last year.
The final WPI stood corrected at 167.5 for the week ended January 4 as against the provisional level of 167.3 and final inflation was at 3.78 per cent compared to a provisional mark of 3.66 per cent.
With only four weeks left for the fiscal year to end, there was a sharp increase of around 2 per cent in the index for fuels, mainly on account of the budgetary proposal to levy an additional cess of 50 paise on diesel.
Finance Minister Jaswant Singh has assured in the Rajya Sabha that the Centre would do everything to keep inflation under control.
The index for primary articles' group rose by 0.1 per cent to 177.3 even as food articles became cheaper, while the prices of non-food items soared. The index was 167.2 in the previous year. The index for food articles' group declined by 0.1 per cent to 178.6 due to cheaper tea (5 per cent), eggs (4 per cent), barley (2 per cent) and condiments and spices (1 per cent).
The non-food articles' group index rose by 0.4 per cent to 178.8 due to higher prices for cotton seed and sunflower (three per cent each), raw cotton (two per cent) and mesta (one per cent).
A whopping 16 per cent price rise in furnace oil, 7 per cent in high speed diesel oil, 5 per cent in petrol and 3 per cent in lubricants pushed up the fuel, power, light and lubricants' group index to 247.6 from the week-ago figure of 243.2. The index was only 233.4 in the previous year.
Interestingly, the index for manufactured products, which is sensitive to movement in prices of domestic fuels, stood unchanged at the week-ago level of 149.5. Despite cheaper food products and rubber, textiles and chemicals became costlier. The index was 144.2 in the previous year. The index for chemicals and chemical products' group was up by 0.1 per cent to 175.9.
Analysts said that the sharp price rise brought about in fuels, especially for diesel, would have lingering effect on manufactured products, as the cost of production for this sector was bound to rise.
Prices dipped for all kinds of bran (11 per cent), cotton seed oil (2 per cent) and coconut oil, rice bran oil and oil cakes (1per cent each).
Prices, however, rose for sooji-rawa and gingelly oil (2 per cent each) and maida and gur (1 per cent each).
The index for textiles' group was up by 0.2 per cent to 125.2 owing to a 5-per cent price hike in polyster staple fibre, while there was a 2 per cent price dip in hessian cloth and one per cent in hessian and sacking bags.
