Food inflation dips to 9.42%

Food inflation declined to 9.42 per cent in the week ended March 5 from 9.52 per cent a week ago. The decline, together with falling global crude prices, may have a softening impact on overall inflation.

However, the prices of manufactured products would also have to be monitored, since their prices (sans food items) had jumped to a two-year high of over 6 per cent in February. In its policy review on Thursday, RBI said the acceleration was spread across manufacturing activities, indicating producers are able to pass on higher input prices to consumers.