New Delhi, Oct 1 : India's annual rate of inflation crawled up marginally to 0.83 percent for the week ended Sep 19 from 0.37 percent the week before, according to official data released Thursday.

The price indices for major groups like primary articles, manufacturing products and fuel, power, light and lubricants rose for the week under review.

The index for primary articles rose 0.4 percent to 276.5 (provisional) from 275.3 (provisional) for the previous week.

Similarly, the index for manufactured products went up by 0.1 percent for the week under review to 209 (provisional) from 208.8 (provisional).

The price index for fuel, power, light and lubricants rose to 345.8 (provisional) from 343.5 (provisional) due to higher prices of furnace oil (up 12 percent) and light diesel oil (up 4 percent).

Inflation has been firming up since the week ended Sep 5 after 14 consecutive weeks of fall. It had turned negative for the week ended June 6 for the first time since the new wholesale price index
(WPI) series started in 1995.

The Reserve Bank of India had in its periodical policy review predicted inflation to be around the 5-percent mark by the end of this fiscal. (ians)