Inflation drops below 5% mark

NEW DELHI, March 29: For the first time in 11 weeks, the annual rate of inflation went below the 5 cent mark to finish the week ended on March 14 at 4.92 per cent. During the week, the annual rate of inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) eased by 0.15 percentage points to 4.92 per cent (provisional) from 5.07 per cent (P) the week before and 7.22 per cent during the corresponding week last year.

The fall in inflation, calculated on a year-on-year basis, was mainly on account of a reduction in prices of primary food articles during the week, including tea, jowar, gram, ragi, arhar and urad.

The annual inflation based on the final index for the latest week (January 17), meanwhile stood at 5.7 per cent compared to 5.8 per cent on the provisional index.

The all commodities index based on the final index for the week stood at 338.0 as against 338.3 on the provisional index. Inflation has been on the decline in the last seven weeks after it touched 5.81 per cent on January 24, a 29-week high.