Inflation rate fell further to 8 per cent for the week ended November 29 mainly on account of declining prices of fruits and vegetables.
The wholesale price-based inflation fell by 0.4 per cent from 8.4 per cent in the previous week. The inflation was 3.89 per cent during the corresponding period a year-ago.
In primary articles group, the prices of fruits, vegetables, barley and grams declined during the week. As far as manufactured items were concerned, unrefined oil, gur, and rapeseed and mustard oil became cheaper.
The inflation rate has been declining after it touched a peak of 12.82 per cent in August.
Among other important items, the prices of cement too dropped marginally during the week, pulling down the index of non-metallic mineral products group by 0.1 per cent.
The items that became expensive include safety matches, ragi, urad, bajra, maize, and groundnut seed and oil.
Paper and paper products and plastic items like PVC fitting and accessaries also became dearer.
There was no movement in the index of fuel, power, light and lubricants during the week.
However, the inflation data for the week ended November 29 does not capture the impact of the cut in prices of petrol and diesel by the government by Rs 5 and Rs 2 per litre, respectively.
Besides, it also does not reflect the price reductions following four per cent across-the-board cut in excise duty announced on Sunday as part of the stimulus package to boost economy.
Once the impact of these decisions is reflected in the wholesale prices, the inflation rate could decline further.
The inflation rate for the week ended October 4 was revised to 11.49 per cent from the provisional estimate of 11.44 per cent.
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