Annual inflation seen at 12.44% on Aug 23

India's annual inflation rate is expected to have inched up in the third week of August, driven by higher prices of some commodities and demand pressures in Asia's third-biggest economy, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

The wholesale price index was forecast by 10 economists to have risen 12.44 per cent in the 12 months to Aug. 23, a shade higher than 12.4 per cent a week earlier.

The inflation rate was 12.63 per cent in early August, which was the highest reading since annual numbers in the current data series first became available in April 1995.