The following is the unedited transcript of the news release from Office of Economic Adviser, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, New Delhi


The official Wholesale Price Index for ''All Commodities'' (Base: 1993-94 = 100) for the week ended 30th May 2009 rose by 0.1 percent to 232.6 (Provisional) from 232.3 (Provisional) for the previous week.

The annual rate of inflation, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 0.13 percent (Provisional) for the week ended 30/05/2009 (over 31/05/2008) as compared to 0.48 percent (Provisional) for the previous week (ended 23/05/2009 ) and 9.32 percent during the corresponding week (ended 31/05/2008) of the previous year.

The movement of the index for the various commodity groups is summarized below:

PRIMARY ARTICLES (Weight 22.02%)

The index for this major group rose by 0.4 percent to 257.7 (Provisional) from 256.6 (Provisional) for the previous week. The groups and items for which the index showed variations during the week are as follows:

The index for ''Food Articles'' group rose by 0.6 percent to 253.9 (Provisional) from 252.3 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of eggs (11%), mutton (3%), fruits & vegetables and condiments & spices (2% each) and barley, moong and urad (1% each). However, the prices of coffee (4%) and bajra (3%) declined.

The index for ‘Non-Food Articles’ group declined by 0.1 percent to 234.3 (Provisional) from 234.5 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of raw wool (4%), raw silk (3%) and raw cotton and gingelly seed (1% each). However, the prices of raw rubber (1%) moved up.

FUEL, POWER, LIGHT & LUBRICANTS (Weight 14.23%)

The index for this major group remained unchanged at its previous week''s level of 324.0 (Provisional).

MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS (Weight 63.75%)

The index for this major group remained unchanged at its previous week''s level of 203.5 (Provisional). The groups and items for which the index showed variations during the week are as follows:

The index for ''Food Products'' group rose by 0.1 percent to 232.8 (Provisional) from 232.6 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of ghee (4%) and khandsari (2%). However, the prices of cotton seed oil (1%) declined.

The index for ''Textiles'' group declined by 0.1 percent to 141.4 (Provisional) from 141.5 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of texturised yarn (2%).

The index for ''Paper & Paper Products'' group rose by 0.1 percent to 204.0 (Provisional) from 203.8 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of printing paper white (1%).

The index for ''Rubber & Plastic Products'' group declined by 0.4 percent to 166.0 (Provisional) from 166.6 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of decorative laminates (11%).

The index for ''Non-Metallic Mineral Products’ group rose by 0.2 percent to 221.0 (Provisional) from 220.6 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of cement (0.3%)

The index for ''Basic Metals Alloys & Metal Products'' group declined by 0.1 percent to 255.3 (Provisional) from 255.6 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of pipes & tubes (3 %), zinc (2%) and lead ingots and zinc ingots (1%each).

The index for ''Machinery & Machine Tools'' group declined by 0.2 percent to 171.9 (Provisional) from 172.3 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of electrical generators (6%) and power driven pumps (1%).