Food inflation rises to 17.65%

Food inflation rose to 17.65 per cent for the week ended April 10 from 17.22 per cent in the previous week due to higher prices of fruits and vegetables.

In the corresponding week last year, food inflation was at 8.16 per cent. Prices of fruits and vegetables rose by 3 per cent, sea fish became costlier by 2 per cent and pulses such as arhar and moong became dearer by 1 per cent each over the week.

The overall inflation, led by rise in food prices, had gone up to 9.9 per cent in March, much higher than the central bank's projection of 8.5 per cent for March-end.

On an annual basis, pulses became dearer by 28.77 per cent, milk by 22.21 per cent, fruits by 18.81 per cent and wheat by 11.18 per cent.

On a weekly basis, the index for food articles rose by 0.7 per cent. Index for non-food articles rose by 0.5 per cent led by higher prices of groundnut and castor seeds.