The spurt in food inflation in the week to 15 October is further evidence that the government is fighting a losing battle on this front. Barely two days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a possible pause in interest rate hikes from December on the assumption that wholesale price (WPI) inflation will start falling from November, primary articles inflation – which accounts for 20 percent of the WPI – showed a rise from 11.18 percent to 11.75 percent while the food inflation component rose more sharply from 10.60 percent to 11.43 percent.