India's wholesale price index ( WPI)-based monthly inflation dropped to 4.41 percent in July from 4.43 percent in June in this fiscal year, the country's junior finance minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told parliament Tuesday.

"The year-on-year inflation based on wholesale price index has declined during the recent months of current financial year 2007- 08," Bansal said, citing provisional data from April.

India registered 5.46 percent inflation in May, down from 6.28 percent in April, the minister added.

"Containment of inflation remains high on the agenda of the government. Anti-inflationary policies of the government include strict fiscal and monetary discipline, rationalization of excise and import duties of essential items so that there is no undue burden on the poor, effective supply-demand management of essential commodities through liberal tariff and trade policies, and strengthening the public distribution system," he told Indian parliament's upper house.