Pranab sees inflation at 7% by March

With marginal decline in rate of price rise in January, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today expressed hope that the overall inflation will come down to 7% by March end.

"I am hoping that it (inflation) would be roughly around 7% (by March end). I hope so. But I cannot firmly commit it," Mukherjee told reporters here.

The overall inflation has shown a marginal decline to 8.23% in January, from 8.43% in the previous month.

The Finance Minister, however, said the inflation numbers in the coming months would depend on global developments and the way the commodity prices move in the global markets.

When asked about the impact of likely wheat crop failure in China, he said the government was not aware of the substance of the reports although the wheat prices are already firming up in the global market.

"Already there is a firming up of wheat, food prices in global market," he said.

However, in India the wheat prices declined by 4.94% in January over the same month last year.

Mukherjee attributed the decline in January inflation to monthly variations and said the fall was on expected lines.

"Don't go by the weekly fluctuation or monthly fluctuations. This was expected. It is nothing unusual," he said.