Higher prices of milk, fruits and pulses raised food inflation to 17.70% for the week ended March 27.
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This was due to the expectations that RBI may further tighten rates in its annual monetary policy on April 20.
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Meanwhile, food inflation in the previous week stood at 16.35%.
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The overall inflation for March is likely to cross the double digit mark.
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This is with prices of vital items increasing and fears of food inflation spreading to manufactured goods.
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The overall inflation, which includes variation in prices of food and non-food items, was 9.89 per cent in February.
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On an annual basis, pulses became dearer by 32.60 per cent, milk by 21.12 per cent, fruits 14.95 and wheat by 13.34 per cent.
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Moreover, on a weekly basis, the index for food articles rose by 0.9 per cent as fish marine, milk, fruits, masur and vegetables became costlier.
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In order to rein in inflation, the PM is holding a meeting of the core committee of Chief Ministers with representations from 10 states and senior Cabinet ministers.
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The core group of chief ministers comprises Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
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Besides CMs, the other members of the committee are Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
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General inflation has already surpassed RBI”s March end projection of 8.5 per cent.
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On the other hand, RBI governor D Subbarao had also said that the apex bank will carry on its exit from monetary stimulus policy to check high inflation and ensure sustainable growth.
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Earlier, according to the government data, released yesterday states the India”s Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 14.86 % in the month of February 2010 as against a year ago, which is lower than January”s annual growth of 16.22 %.
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During the month of February 2010, the CPI for Industrial Workers reduced by 2 points to 170.
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Also, India”s annual wholesale inflation rose to 9.89 % in February 2010 as compared to an increase of 8.56 % in January 2010 and 3.50 % against a year ago.
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The wholesale price inflation is more closely watched in India because it covers a higher number of products.
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The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation rate is rising quite sharply ever since it came out of the negative territory in September 2009.
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