Food inflation declined to 16.61 per cent for the week ended April 17 from 17.65 per cent a week ago due to a fall in prices of fruits, vegetables and some coarse cereals, official data showed on Thursday.

Data on the wholesale price index (WPI) released by the commerce and industry ministry showed the index for food articles fell by 0.2 per cent during the week under review. The index for non-food articles, however, rose 0.8 per cent.