A fruit seller arranges fruits inside his shop at a market in Srinagar
India's food price index rose 8.53% and the fuel price index climbed 13.53% in the year to April 23, government data on Thursday showed.
In the previous week, annual food and fuel inflation stood at 8.76% and 13.53%, respectively.
The primary articles price index was up 12.11%, compared with an annual rise of 12.08% a week earlier.
The Reserve Bank of India raised interest rates by a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points on Tuesday, its ninth rate hike since March 2010, in a bid to moderate stubbornly high inflation.
A cashier counts currency notes inside a bank in Lucknow
Banks have witnessed a negative growth in loans so far in the current financial year, as is typical at the beginning of a financial year.
The outstanding loans fell by 0.5% to Rs 39.2 lakh cr as of April 22 from Rs 39.4 lakh cr as of March 25.
Deposits, on the other hand, rose Rs 1.15 lakh cr or 2.2% to Rs 53.2 lakh cr in the same period.
Typically, banks take large number of short-term loans at end of a quarter to shore up their balance sheet. These loans mature at beginning of the next quarter, leading to lower credit growth numbers.
On-year bank loans grew 22% and deposits 18%.
Banks' loan demand usually remains muted in the first half of a financial year.
Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries (RIL), attends a session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos
RIL plans to invest up to $12 billion in the chemicals business to tap the market for hygiene and healthcare products and will look at developing a new rubber business, Chairman Mukesh Ambani said.
"We believe that hygiene will be a very big market in a rapidly prospering India where people's aspirations are rising," Ambani, the world's ninth-richest man according to Forbes, said.
Labourers work at an electric pylon in New Delhi
India's power demand is seen rising 55.6% to 1,400 billion kilowatt hours (bkwh) by the end of next five year plan period, that ends in March 2017, Power Secretary P Umashankar said on Thursday.
He said the country needs to add 100,000 megawatt of generation capacity during the period to meet the expected demand.
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