Inflation shoots up to 5.79 per cent in July as veggie prices soar

Inflation rose for the second consecutive month, shooting up to 5.79 per cent in July, driven largely by double digit rise in prices of food articles, mainly vegetables, including onion.

Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) had stood at 4.86 per cent in June. In July 2012, it was 7.52 per cent.

According to official data released on Wednesday, WPI inflation in the food articles category rose to double digits at 11.91 per cent, driven mainly by price rise in onion, cereals and rice.

The rate of price rise in food articles, which has a 14.34 per cent share in the WPI basket, was at 9.74 per cent in June. The inflation in the food articles category rose for the third straight month.

Inflation in onion shot up by 145 per cent in July on an annual basis. It has risen by 114 per cent in the previous month, against the same period last year.

Vegetables prices too went up by 46.59 per cent during the month, from 16.47 per cent in June.

Inflation in the manufactured items category showed a marginal rise to 2.81 per cent in July, from 2.75 per cent in June.

The non-food articles category, which include fibre, oil seeds and minerals, saw a decline in inflation to 5.51 per cent, from 7.57 per cent in June.

Inflation in rice stood at 21.15 per cent in July, against 19.11 per cent in the previous month. Also cereals prices rose to 17.66 per cent from 17.18 per cent in June.

Inflation for May was revised downwards to 4.58 per cent from 4.70 per cent according to provisional estimates.