Food inflation fell to 8.53 percent for the week ended April 23 on the back of fall in prices of pulses, reversing the upward trend seen in the previous fortnight. Food inflation in the previous week was 8.76 percent. The latest numbers come as a relief to the government and the RBI, especially at a time when the central bank's monetary policy for the fiscal, released earlier this week, was almost exclusively focused on fighting price rise.Food inflation stood at 20.91 per cent during the corresponding week last year. During the week under review, wholesale prices of pulses declined by 7.39 per cent on a year-on-year basis. However, all other commodities witnessed a rise in prices. Headline inflation was 8.98 per cent in March and has been above the 8 per cent mark since January, 2010.