As the year is drawing closer to its end, thanks to the skyrocketing food-prices, the Wholesale Price Index-based inflation has shot up from 1.34%, as at the end of October, to 4.78% by the last week of November—three-and-a-half times' rise in just a month. The monthly data released on December 14 reveals that in the fourth week of November food inflation had shot up by 19.04%, the highest in over a decade. But for the prices of edible oil, which had, however, turned cheaper, the prices of every other food item had gone up. Obviously, it is no wonder that the rise is more evident in the Consumer Price Index—which is well above 11%, for greater weightage is given to food items in CPI than in the WPI. As usual, the government agencies have expressed their concern over rising prices, and also assured the hard-hit bottom of the pyramid that necessary action to contain it is afoot.

The Analyst Magazine, Inflation, Index Based Inflation, Global Food Prices, Trade Policies, Market Fragmentation, Reserve Bank of India, RBI, Monetary Conditions, Food Inflation, Market Intermediaries, Rural Infrastructure, Market Integration, Global Financial Crisis, Monetary and Fiscal Easing.