Inflation at 3-yr high, fin min talks of steps

By Surojit Gupta

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian annual inflation rose to a 3-½ year high of 7.61 percent in late April, prompting the finance minister to pledge that the government would take more action to tame prices if needed.

However, the finance minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, said the fact that inflation had shown only a marginal increase in late April was a relief and not statistically significant.

Still, wholesale inflation, the country's most closely followed measure of price trends, has more than doubled since November as India, like other countries globally, saw its import bill for oil and food prices soar.

Analysts said recent moves by the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to boost supplies and curb inflation-stoking cash circulating in the banking system would pay off, but inflation would remain high for some time.

"The fiscal and trade measures taken by the government should start having an impact in the coming weeks. Particularly the cut in steel prices announced by steel producers should reflect in the index," said Sonal Varma, an economist with Lehman Brothers in Mumbai.

Steel firms agreed to trim prices on Wednesday, under pressure from the government.

"However, with oil prices still firm, we expect the WPI index to remain above 7 percent in the coming weeks," Varma said.

Government data showed on Friday the wholesale price index for the 12 months to April 26 rose at its fastest pace since Nov. 13, 2004, edging up from 7.57 percent in the previous week's data. The result was in line with expectations.