Inflation falls to 5.78%

Inflation fell below the 6 per cent mark, after almost seven months, to 5.78 per cent during the week ended January 1, mainly due to a fall in prices of fuels, vegetables and fruits, edible oils and other food items.

The wholesale price index based inflation fell by 0.61 per cent during the review week from 6.39 per cent in the previous week despite a rise in manufactured products prices.

A series of measures by the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank helped bring down the inflation to 5.78 per cent, lower than 6.45 per cent a year ago.