Food inflation fell by 1.51 per cent to 16.30 per cent for the first week of March while fuel inflation shot up by 1.30 per cent to 12.68 per cent. The fall in food inflation is due to easing prices of pulses and vegetables. Vegetable prices showed a marked decline of more than 10 per cent over the week, followed by about 4 per cent fall in prices of pulses. Urad and arhar prices were down 6 per cent each during the week. However, the fuel index comprising fuel, power, light and lubricants saw an increase over the week led by 16.82 per cent inflation in petrol prices and 14.99 per cent in diesel prices. The rise in fuel prices is as a result of the budgetary announcement of a hike in excise and customs duty on petrol and diesel. The overall inflation has risen to 9.89 per cent for February from a low of 1.34 per cent in October last year.