India's inflation up at 7.33 per cent

India's annual rate of inflation shot up to 7.33 per cent for the week ended April 12 after easing a bit to 7.14 per cent for previous week, official data showed on Thursday.

Last week, the inflation rate, as measured by movements in the weekly official wholesale price index, had eased marginally from a 40-month high of 7.41 per cent for the week ended March 29.

Ahead of the release of inflation data, leaders of Left parties Prakash Karat, A B Bardhan, Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Debabrata Biswas and Abani Roy met the Prime Minister today and submitted a memorandum listing measures that the government should take to curb price rise and asked him to take some immediate measures to check prices, including a ban on futures trading in some 25 commodities.

Left also suggested to Strengthen the Public Distribution System (PDS) by universalizing it. Put curbs on procurement of food grains and take stringent action against hoarding of essential commodities. They also asked the Prime Minister to reduce import duty on crude oil, saying high prices of the commodity - which is hovering around $110 per barrel - had already been resulting in higher revenues for the government.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said in the Lok Sabha that some administrative measures were under the government's active consideration to curb price rise but warned that such steps could retard economic growth marginally. "Steps taken will take some time to have an impact on inflation. Every possible measure is being taken. We must be patient," Chidambaram told the lower house. "Inflation is largely driven by international prices of commodities."

Add to: del.icio.us Digg Technorati