India's headline inflation would fall below the 10 per cent mark by the end of this financial year, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Thursday.

"Inflation is expected to moderate below the double-digit mark by the end of the current fiscal," Ahluwalia said reporters in New Delhi.

Ahluwalia has maintained that inflation was a short-term challenge and would be able to slow down the pace of the economy's growth to 8 per cent or marginally less in the current fiscal.

Ahluwalia said that the softening of crude prices in the international market was a "welcome development", and hoped that the domestic price situation would stabilise in due course.

Brent crude is down to $118 per barrel, a big relief to countries like India, which imports around 70 per cent of the oil it consumes.

India's headline inflation for the week ended July 19 touched a 13-year high at 11.98 per cent as compared to 11.89 per cent for the week before.

Ahluwalia's assessment for inflation to moderate by the year-end was in consonance with Finance Minister P Chidambaram's view that inflation would start moderating after six to nine months.