New Delhi, Dec 11 : India’s inflation rate continued its southward movement and declined to eight per cent for the week ended on November 29 from 8.4 per cent in the previous week.

This was the slowest rise since mid-April when inflation was at 7.95 percent.

Inflation fell for the fifth consecutive week to a seven-and-a-half-month low of 8 per cent due to cheaper food items.

In fact, the rate of price rise in all certainty is expected to moderate substantially with cascading effect of fuel price cut and four per cent across the board excise duty reduction getting mirrored in the data in subsequent weeks.

“Policy responses to inflation has brought down the inflation below nine per cent and we expect further reduction,” Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said in New Delhi, adding it was a good sign.

Many food items like vegetables, fruits, gram, barley, unrefined oil, gur and rapeseed and mustard oil turned less costlier, even as most other indices either rose or remained unchanged. (ANI)