The increase spells more misery for the country's millions of poor, who are hardest hit by the rising cost of living, and is bad news for the much-criticised campaign against inflation by the Indian central bank.

The Reserve Bank of India has raised rates 13 times since March last year to try to tackle inflation, raising the cost of borrowing and leading to complaints from business leaders about a slowdown in demand.

The new food inflation rate of 11.43 percent in the week ended October 15 was much higher than the previous week, when it stood at 10.60 percent, according to figures from the government.

The increase was due to rises in the price of vegetables, fruits, milk and protein-based items.

Food inflation has been high in India for much of the past two years, peaking at around 20 percent at the end of 2010.

Headline wholesale inflation, which measures the cost of goods across the economy, was clocked at 9.72 percent in September.