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Food inflation slips sharply to 4.35 percent

India's annual food inflation fell sharply to 4.35 percent for the week ended Dec 3, the lowest in nearly four years, as prices of onion, potato and other vegetables declined their fall, official data showed Thursday.

The food inflation has been on a downtrend for more than a month, falling from the double digits seen in October. Policymakers have said it should fall to below 3 percent within a month.

The decline in food inflation would give much needed relief to common people and policymakers who have been struggling for almost the last two years to control price rise.

It will also bolster the case for reversing the Reserve Bank of India's tight monetary policy. The RBI has hiked key policy rates 13 times since the beginning of 2010 to control price rise.

However, headline inflation based on the wholesale price index was still at elevated levels in November, recorded at 9.11 percent.

The primary articles index, which has a 20.12 percent weightage in the wholesale price index, dropped to 5.48 percent for the week under review as compared to 6.92 percent in the previous week, according to data released by the commerce and industry ministry.

The fuel and power index slipped marginally to 15.24 percent.

The following are the yearly rise and fall in prices in the week under review of some main commodities that form the sub-index for food articles:

Onions: (-) 46.03 percent

Vegetables: (-) 12.28 percent

Fruits: 9.37 percent

Potatoes: (-) 33.28 percent

Eggs, meat, fish: 9.26 percent

Cereals: 1.85 percent

Rice: 2.04 percent

Wheat: (-) 4.43 percent

Pulses: 11.76 percent