Food price index rises 13.39 pct yr/yr Oct 24

Thu, Nov 5 12:20 PM

Enlarge Photo Workers unload watermelons at a fruit market in Mumbai in this October 29, 2009 file...

India's food price index was up 13.39 percent in the 12 months to Oct. 24, while the fuel index was down 6.2 percent, the government said on Thursday.

The Commerce and Industry Ministry said it will release monthly data for all commodities for October on Nov. 12.

On Wednesday, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and a close aide to the prime minister, said food price inflation was a concern but it should moderate by the end of this year.

Late last month, India's central bank raised the WPI inflation projection to 6.5 percent with an upside bias by end-March 2010, from 5.0 percent earlier.

The wholesale price index is more closely watched than the consumer price index, which is published monthly, because it covers a higher number of products and is released weekly.

(Reporting by Rajkumar Ray; Editing by Alistair Scrutton)

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