In line with the expectations of the Reserve Bank of India and the Union government, inflation dropped to 5.8 per cent after remaining over 6.0 per cent in the recent period, with prices of fruits and vegetables, eggs and some of the edible oils declining.
The point-to-point Wholesale Price Index inflation fell by 0.32 per cent from the previous week's figure of 6.12 per cent, even as heavy-weighted manufactured items, including food products and textiles, became costlier.
The extent of increase in the general price level came close to 5.29 per cent recorded in the year-ago period.
Both RBI and the Centre expected that inflation would taper off to 4-4.5 per cent by the end of this fiscal and notably prices would come down after January 31.
WPI, on the other hand, rose marginally by 0.2 per cent to 178.9 points even as fuel prices remained unchanged for the fourth consecutive week notwithstanding the gyrations in the international market due to the OPEC meeting. The index was 169.1 points in the previous year period.
Government of India had to revise upwards inflation to 5.56 per cent for the week ended December six as compared to provisional figure of 5.38 per cent.
The final WPI stood corrected at 176.7 points during the first week of December as against provisional level of 176.4 points.