Friday November 6, 1:07 AM
Indian food inflation jumps to 13 pct
India's food prices soared by more than 13 percent year-on-year in the week ending October 24, the government said Thursday, as it announced changes to its method of measuring inflation.
In an effort to make reporting of price changes more accurate, the government said it would now release headline inflation data on a monthly, rather than a weekly basis.
The commerce ministry said the change to the Wholesale Price Index, the main measure of inflation, would give statisticians more time to better capture price movements.
Food and fuel prices will continue to be released on a weekly basis.
A table covering primary articles showed that food had risen by 13.39 percent overall for the week ended October 24 from a year earlier.
Onions, a key staple in Indian diets, had risen 49.91 percent from a year earlier while pulses were up 23.45 percent and vegetables were up 12.31 percent, the data showed.
Food prices have been rising steadily as a result of the driest monsoon in nearly four decades followed by widespread flooding in some areas.
When the Wholesale Price Index was released last week for the last time on a weekly basis, it showed that inflation was running at 1.51 percent on 12-month basis.
The government has forecast that inflation could hit 6.5 percent by the end of the financial year to March.
Analysts say the central bank could be forced to raise benchmark borrowing rates early in the new year in an attempt to check inflation.
But the government is keen for the bank to hold off on rate rises for as long as possible in order to sustain India's fragile economic recovery.
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