Inflation falls slightly to 5.94 per cent

This is the first time the inflation rate has fallen after the new WPI series with 1993-94 as base year was introduced on April 1, 2000.

The inflation rate has been witnessing a steady rise ever since it touched 3.0 per cent on February 5, mainly on account of a rise in administered prices in petroleum products and electricity.

During the week under reference, the index for "All Commodities" moved up by 0.1 per cent to 151.5 (provisional) from 151.4 (P) in the previous week.

The final rate of inflation for the week ended March 4 on the new series stood sharply higher at 5.01 per cent, compared with 2.96 per cent on the provisional index.

The final index for All Commodities was also sharply up at 148.8, against the provisional estimate of 145.9.

The final index has been showing a substantially higher figure than the provisional index for the last couple of weeks.

The steady rise in the rate of increase in prices was reflected in the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) also, with the annual inflation based on this index rising to 4.83 per cent in March, from 3.61 per cent in February.

Among the three major groups in the WPI during the week, the index for "Manufactured Products" declined by 0.1 per cent, while the indices for "Primary Articles" and "Fuel, Power, Light & Lubricants" rose by 0.4 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively.

Among the commodities which witnessed substantial fluctuations during the week were tea (up 10 per cent), beef and buffalo meat, rape and mustard oil and coconut oil (down 5 per cent each), raw jute (up 20 per cent), niger seed (up 18 per cent), mesta and fodder (up 6 per cent each), aviation turbine fuel (up 19 per cent) and raw cotton and sunflower oil (down 4 per cent each).

The Index for Primary Articles rose by 0.4 per cent to 162.1 from 161.5 in the previous week on account a of rise in indices of both food articles and non-food articles.