Food inflation rose to 17.65 percent for the week ended April 10 from 17.22 percent in the previous week due to higher prices of fruits and vegetables.

In the corresponding week last year, food inflation was at 8.16 percent.

Prices of fruits and vegetables rose by 3 percent, sea fish became costlier by 2 percent and pulses such as arhar and moong became dearer by 1 percent each over the week.

The overall inflation, led by rise in food prices, had gone up to 9.9 percent in March, much higher than the central bank's projection of 8.5 percent for March-end.

On an annual basis, pulses became dearer by 28.77 percent, milk by 22.21 percent, fruits by 18.81 percent and wheat by 11.18 percent.

On a weekly basis, the index for food articles rose by 0.7 per cent. Index for non-food articles rose by 0.5 per cent led by higher prices of groundnut and castor seeds.