Food inflation rises to 9.13 percent

The primary articles index, which has a 20.12 percent weight in the wholesale price index, rose by 11.43 in the week under review as compared to 12.17 percent in the previous week, according to data released by the commerce and industry ministry.
However, the rise in the index of fuel and power accelerated to 14.69 percent during the week under review as compared to 13.96 percent in the previous week.

The index for non-food articles rose at a much slower rate of 12.89 percent during the week ended Sep 10 as compared to 17.42 percent in the previous week.
With food inflation again rising to over 9 percent, after a slip last week, the government will have to look at easing supply side bottlenecks as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will not be able to hike rates significantly after it tightened monetary policy earlier this month.

The RBI in the 12th such exercise since January 2010 to tame stubborn inflation had   hiked key rates by 25 basis points.

Despite the aggressive monetary tightening by the central bank, inflation has remained stubbornly high. Annual inflation rate for August, based on the wholesale price index, was seen inching closer towards double-digits at 9.78 percent.

The following are the yearly rise and fall in prices under review of some main commodities that form the sub-index for food articles:

Onions: 17.04 percent
Vegetables: 11.98 percent
Fruits: 12.47 percent
Potatoes: 14.91 percent
Eggs, meat, fish: 13.17 percent
Cereals: 3.83 percent
Rice: 3.48 percent
Wheat: (-) 2.67 percent
Pulses: 4.86 percent