New Delhi, Apr 2: The rate of inflation for the week ended March 21 rose marginally to 0.31 percent, from 0.27 percent a week earlier, government data showed on Thursday.
The inflation rate, as measured by the wholesale price index, was 7.8 per cent during the corresponding week of the previous year.
Price of certain food items such as tea, gur, aerated water and imported edible oil has risen during the period.
While the price of blended tea increased by 48 per cent, packaged tea and aerated water became expensive by 22 and 10 per cent, respectively.
Despite the global downturn having delivered harsh blows to the industrial output in India - with the figures dropping for the third time in five months during February to 1.2 percent, and a rather drab March quarter - analysts are hopeful that the industrial revival might just be round the corner!
Indian Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari, who is visiting Kuwait, Tuesday met Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah; the Prime Minister and Defence Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah; and the Kuwaiti Ministers for Oil, Foreign Affairs and Finance. 
According to the recent IDC India survey, 66 percent of the Chief Information Officers (CIOs) of 467 mid-sized and large companies surveyed expressed the hope that the ongoing global economic crisis will come to an end by December 2009.
The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has forecasted 15 to 20 per cent decline in export in the month of March following slump in demand under the impact of global slowdown. 
According to the 'Indian Retail: Time to change lanes' report by global consultancy KPMG, the ongoing recession has taken a major toll on the dissemination of India's organized retail - with the country's retail sales growth falling drastically to 11 percent in December 2008 from the 2007 figures of 34 percent.
