New Delhi, May 12 -- >

India's retail inflation stood at 3.48% in April as prices of food and beverages, clothing, housing and utilities hardened amid rising energy costs linked to the West Asia conflict, according to provisional data released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation on Tuesday.

The favourable base effect that had helped keep inflation subdued in recent months continued to wane. The rise pushes inflation to a 13-month high in April, up from a 10-month high in February. A Mint poll of 20 economists had put the median estimate for India's retail inflation at 3.8% in April.

The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data can't be compared with the year-ago period due to the reset of the index basket in Januar...