NEW DELHI - India’s annual rate of inflation, based on the wholesale price index, declined marginally to 0.7 percent for the week ended Sep 26, from 0.83 percent for the week before, due mainly to a drop in prices of food articles.

Data released Thursday showed that while the index for primary articles was up as much as 9.49 percent during the 52-week period, that for manufactured products was up 0.48 percent. The index for fuels declined 7.91 percent.

A further look at the index numbers shows that the wholesale price of potatoes has risen by a whopping 81.19 percent over the past year, while that for vegetables is up 42.99 percent. Pulses are dearer by 20.45 percent and milk by 8.72 percent.

Inflation has been firming up since the week ended Sep 5 after 14 consecutive weeks of decline. It had turned negative for the week ended June 6 for the first time since the new wholesale price index series started in 1995.

Both the Reserve Bank of India and the government have been stating that inflation rate will be around 5 percent mark by the end of this fiscal. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also said Wednesday that the worst was soon going to be over on price rise.

“The worst is getting over on price rise. With a good Rabi (winter) crop, we should be able to cope with things,” the prime minister said at an election rally in Ambala city of Haryana, some 45 km from Chandigarh.

“I know people are upset with the price rise. There are several reasons for that. Prices of food products in the international market have gone up, the monsoon rain has not been enough and drought-like situation has prevailed this year,” he said.