India food prices jump 19 percent

MUMBAI: India's food price inflation has hit 19.1 percent, the government said Thursday, after the country's weakest monsoon since 1972 cut into agricultural output.

Food prices for the week ending Nov. 28 were 19.1 percent higher than they were during the same period last year, while fuel prices rose just 0.1 percent, the Ministry of Commerce said.

The summer monsoon was 23 percent below normal, and the government estimated last month that production of rice, coarse cereals and oil seeds will fall between 14.8 percent and 19.7 percent this season. Erratic weather also led to flooding in some parts of the country, damaging crops.

Overall inflation remains low — headline wholesale inflation rose 1.3 percent during October from a year earlier — but spiking food prices have complicated the central bank's efforts to sustain growth without stoking inflation.

The Reserve Bank of India expects headline inflation to hit 6.5 percent by March.