Inflation Not Because Of Food Shortage: Pranab Mukherjee

Inflation Not Because Of Food Shortage: Pranab MukherjeeFinance Minister Pranab Mukherjee stated that inflation is not due to lack of food in the country.

He stated that inflation was mainly because of the heavy demand of pulses, edible oils as well as sugar.

While talking to media on the sidelines of an event to mark the 75th anniversary of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Pranab said, “If you look at the basket of the wholesale prices till date you will find the contribution of other elements are not that high as the contribution of the food items. It reached as high as 19.9 percent, gradually it is coming down, and substantially it is because of the short supply, there is a gap between the demand and supply in edible oils, in pulses, in sugar.”

The minister promised about plentiful food supply in India.

"There is no shortage of the food stock. Already about four million tonnes of grains, three million tonnes of wheat, two million tonnes for open sale market scheme, one million tonne for vast consumers and one million tonne of rice have been given to the states for the open market sales schemes," he said.

The administration, confronting criticism for growing food costs, is making attempts to meet up conflicting plans of controlling food inflation and to satisfy agriculturists by paying them attractive rates.

On Friday, Dr. Manmohan Singh stated that the winter-sown crop prospects were really encouraging, but India requires paying agriculturists a good price for their produce to strengthen productivity further.

A good crop is likely to cut down food inflation, which sped up to around 18% during the last month from a year ago, and also press down the administration to export wheat and rice as official agencies do not have adequate storage space. (With Input from Agencies)