Overall inflation surges to 8.43% in Dec

• Overall inflation surged to 8.43 per cent in December from 7.48 per cent in the previous month, mainly driven by the runaway increase in food prices.
• The headline WPI (Wholesale Price Index) data for December released here on Friday reveal that while fuel and power inflation inched up to 11.19 per cent during the month from 10.32 per cent in October, the manufacturing sector inflation actually eased to 4.46 per cent from 4.56 per cent.
• In the event, even as it is almost certain that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is going to hike its key rates by at least 25 basis points during its policy review on January 25, doubts have been raised as to whether monetary measures would be effective in taming the current bout of inflation led by high food prices stemming from supply constraints