Inflation moderates to 11.8 percent

New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS) Amidst a liquidity crunch and a slowdown in industrial growth, India's inflation moderated slightly to 11.8 percent for the week ended Sep 27, compared to 11.99 percent the week before.

"The annual rate of inflation, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 11.80 percent (provisional) for the week ended Sep 27," said the ministry of commerce and industry Friday.

The current rate of inflation is quite high, as the ministry said the annual rate of inflation was at 3.36 percent during last corresponding period.

The commerce ministry said the price index for primary articles declined 0.2 percent, while that of fuel, power, light and lubricants remained unchanged at last week's level of 375.3 (provisional).

The wholesale price index (WPI) showed a decline of 0.1 percent in the index for manufactured products due to lower prices of groundnut oil (2 percent) and gingelly oil (one percent).

The ministry said the final WPI for all commodities for the week ended Aug 2 stood at 241.4 as compared to 240.4 (provisional), and annual rate of inflation based on final index, calculated on point-to-point basis, stood at 12.91 percent as compared to 12.44 percent (provisional).

The index for chemicals and chemical products, however, rose 0.5 percent due to higher prices of liquid injectables other than vitamins (7 percent), titanium dioxide (5 percent), and tablets except vitamin and penicillin (3 percent).