Inflation at 7.61%(42 month high)

Inflation went up to 7.61% for the week ended April 26 from 7.57% the previous week, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday viewed the upward movement as “stable and not statistically significant” while holding out an assurance that more administrative steps would be taken to tame the price spiral.
Commenting on the inflation data here at the end of an official briefing on Cabinet decisions, Mr. Chidambaram said the movement [of inflation from 7.57 to 7.61 per cent] “in our assessment means that it is stable and not statistically significant.
The government was now “persuading” the cement industry to roll back prices. “More administrative steps will be taken as and when they become necessary to check inflation,” he said.
As of now, the government has taken a slew of administrative measures. These include extension of the ban on futures trading — already imposed on wheat, rice, tur and urad last year — to four commodities, namely gram (chana), soya oil, potato and rubber, while primary steel producers have been persuaded to go in for a voluntary cut in prices.