Weekly inflation eases as vegetable prices fall

The fall in vegetable prices helped ease inflation slightly, with the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) based measure dropping by 0.59 percent for the week ending November 6.

Tomatoes saw the steepest fall, plunging by nearly 38 percent, followed by onions, which dropped by 4.88 percent. Other items contributing to the decline included garlic, pulse gram, chicken, sugar, gur, pulse masoor, and LPG.

However, not all essentials became cheaper. Eggs led the list of rising prices, climbing by 2.40 percent, while bananas increased by 2.32 percent. Firewood, diesel, beef, tea, petrol, bread, wheat flour, powdered milk, and cooking oil also saw moderate price hikes.

Out of the 51 items tracked, prices of 18 items increased, 12 fell, and 21 remained unchanged.

Year-on-year trend shows mixed picture

While weekly inflation eased, the annual trend continues to show an overall increase of 4.18 percent. Among the highest yearly rises were ladies’ sandals, up by 55.62 percent, sugar 43.67 percent, gas charges 29.85 percent, and wheat flour 19.50 percent. Other significant increases were seen in gur, firewood, beef, vegetable ghee, onions, and diesel.

In contrast, prices of garlic, pulse gram, electricity for the first quarter, potatoes, tomatoes, tea, pulse mash, chicken, LPG, and pulse masoor have dropped over the year, with garlic leading the decline at 33.54 percent.

Impact on household spending

The SPI-based inflation showed varying declines across income groups. Households spending up to Rs17,732 per month saw the largest weekly drop of 1.04 percent. Those in the Rs17,732-22,888 bracket recorded a 0.93 percent fall, while families spending Rs22,889-29,517 experienced a 0.74 percent decrease.

Households with monthly expenditures of Rs29,518-44,175 saw a 0.66 percent decline, and those spending above Rs44,175 reported a minimal fall of 0.08 percent. Overall, the combined SPI dropped to 333.55 points from 335.53 the previous week.

The data suggests that while weekly inflation showed relief mainly due to lower vegetable prices, year-on-year trends indicate persistent pressure on household budgets, particularly for staples and energy.