Nov inflation at 4.78% not a surprise: Fin Secy

The government today said the spike in inflation to 4.78 per cent in November was on expected lines and does not call for any immediate action.

"It is not as if we are taken by surprise or that there is any cause for any special emergency measure at this stage," Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters here.

Rising prices of commodities has always been a matter of concern for the government, he said, adding the government has been taking administrative steps to contain inflation.

Led by rising food prices, the Wholesale Price-based index (WPI) for November shot up to 4.78 per cent from 1.34 per cent in the previous month.

Food infation, as per the weekly data released earlier today, showed an increase of 19.04 per cent. "The fact that food inflation was high and that could reflect in the WPI was also known," Chawla said, adding the government would see whether the rise in inflation was on account of the base effect or is it a trend that is likely to continue.

"In any case, the expectations which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had put out and which the government has also indicated was that the WPI would be in the region of 6 per cent by March 2010," he added.