Inflation in manufactured goods remains a matter of concern despite a marginal decline in December, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said, expressing hope that the overall rate of price rise would come down to 6-7 per cent by March-end.
Prices of manufactured products, which account for 65 per cent of the overall weight of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) basket, went up by 7.41 per cent year-on-year in December, as against 7.70 per cent in the previous month.
Inflation, as measured by the WPI, fell to a two-year low of 7.47 per cent in December, 2011, from 9.11 per cent in the previous month.
As per official data, prices of food items rose at a lower rate of 0.74 per cent in December, compared to 8.54 per cent expansion in the previous month.
The decline in December inflation, Mr. Mukherjee said, is “mainly due to a significant decline in inflation for primary articles, including food inflation.”
He said good industrial production numbers for November, at 5.9 per cent, and a sharp decline in inflation indicates some improvement in overall macro-economic parameters in the second half of 2011-12.
He also said that softening of prices of manufactured goods would be gradual, even as non-food primary inflation witnesses a rapid decline.
