Inflation data to be released on every Thursday - July 17, 2008

Concerned over leakage of sensitive data on price rise, the government has decided to release the inflation figures on July 17 against the current practice of announcing it on Fridays. Henceforth, the wholesale price-based inflation data would be released at 5 pm on every Thursday, a Commerce Ministry official said.Earlier, the inflation data was released at 12 noon every Friday. The decision comes in the wake of a few instances where the sensitive data was leaked before the official announcement, the official said.The provisional inflation data is prepared on Thursday and send to various ministries.With the inflation rising to a 13-year high of at around 12 per cent, the sensitivity of data has assumed significance for the stock markets and bond markets.Under the new schedule, the data will be released after the close of trading at bourses and will prevent traders from overreacting to the price rise indices.