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New Delhi, Feb 14 (PTI): Inflation measured by the wholesale price index (WPI) declined for the fourth straight month, to 6.62 per cent in January, despite a rise in prices of food items like vegetables, onions and rice.
The WPI was 7.18 per cent in December and 7.24 per cent in November. It was at 7.23 per cent in January 2012.
Inflation in manufactured items category too witnessed a decline and stood at 4.81 per cent in January, according to official data released Thursday.
Inflation in food articles, which have a 14.3 per cent share in the WPI basket, however witnessed an increase as onion prices shot up during the month.
Inflation in the food articles category was at 11.88 per cent from 11.16 per cent in December.
Onions became expensive by 111.52 per cent during January, from 69.24 per cent in December 2012.
While inflation in egg, meat and fish stood at 10.81 per cent, those of milk rose up 4.47 per cent and fruits by 8.42 per cent.
For the fuel and power category, inflation moderated to 7.06 per cent in January, compared to 9.38 per cent in December 2012.
The cooling off of January inflation would provide the much needed comfort to Reserve Bank of India, which had projected March-end inflation at 6.8 per cent.
In January, the central bank had lowered interest rates by 0.25 per cent saying that with inflation showing signs of remaining range bound, it was now critical to arrest the loss of growth momentum.
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