India's headline inflation has denied official expectation of deceleration and moved up slightly to 8.31 percent in February from 8.23 percent in January, said Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday.
The stubborn inflation of wholesale price index (WPI) is much higher than market forecast of 7.8 percent and will definitely put more pressure on Indian central bank to continue monetary tightening, which is poised to announce its mid-quarter monetary report on Thursday.
Food articles saw 10.65 percent price growth in February from 15.65 percent in the previous month with vegetables and onion prices coming down.
Still, fiber prices recorded 72.46 percent hike in February from 47.63 percent in January, lifting the inflation of non-food primary articles to 29.8 percent from 23.89 percent.
Meanwhile, heavyweight sector of manufactured products reported 4.94 percent of inflation in February from 3.75 percent a month earlier, representing rise of raw material prices.
Edible oils, textiles, rubber and plastic products, chemicals, basic metals and iron products posted higher month-on-month price increases.
The inflation with fuel and power sector maintained stability and stood at 11.49 percent despite doom concerns for the coming months.
Plus, the government also adjusted up final inflation numbers of December 2010 from provisional 8.43 percent to 9.41 percent./.