India’s annual wholesale inflation accelerated in October from a month earlier on costlier minerals and fuels. On Saturday, the government switched to using monthly inflation data for all commodities with 1993-94 as the base year, from the earlier practice of announcing weekly price movement.
The wholesale price index was up 1.34% in October from a year earlier, compared with 0.5% in September and 11.06% a year ago.
Food prices however declined by 1% from the previous month’s level, while minerals and industrial fuels were each costlier by 3%.
At its policy review last month, the central bank lifted its inflation forecast to 6.5% for the end of 2009-10 fiscal year in March, but left policy rates unchanged.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also laid the groundwork for a rise in interest rates by tightening credit to the commercial property sector and removed some of the emergency liquidity support steps that were extended to protect the economy from the global downturn.
The consumer price index, which attaches greater weightage to food and essential items, was up 11.72% in September.
India’s industrial output grew 9.1% in September from a year earlier, helped by stimulus and festival demand, and adding to the debate on the timing of exit policy.
The International Monetary Fund has pinpointed India, plus China and Australia, as economies that are recovering rapidly, suggesting growing pressure for authorities to tighten monetary policy ahead of others in the region.
| NIFTY 
