India Plan Panel Head: Expect Inflation To Ease To 6% By December

BANGALORE -(Dow Jones)- India's inflation rate is at an uncomfortable level, but it will ease to 6% by the end of December, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said at a conference Friday.

The Planning Commission is India's top government think tank.

The wholesale price index-based inflation rate in June accelerated to 10.55% from a year earlier, compared with 10.16% in May, due to high food prices and steadily rising demand pressures in non-food commodities.

Economists expect the rate to accelerate more in July when most of the impact of the government's decision to raise auto and cooking fuel prices will be felt.

-By Dhanya Ann Thoppil, Dow Jones Newswires; +91-11-43563311; anant.kala@ dowjones.com

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