Pranab confident on curbing price rise; will announce new measures

Agencies

New Delhi, 13 January 2011: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said that the government will be taking a slew of measures to curb spiraling food prices. 

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the Union Cabinet, Pranab said that the government is confident of a decline in prices of food items and will announce more measures on the same by today evening. 

He opined that the phenomenal rise in inflation figures is primarily due to the rise in prices of egg, milk and meat.

Among the measures that may be announced are withdrawal of some decisions related to food items like export of 500,000 tonnes of sugar and hiking prices of wheat and rice sold through the public distribution system to families above the poverty line.

The government arrived at a decision on its action plan, to curb price rise, after the two-day-long brainstorming session that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held with his senior Cabinet colleagues.

The Prime Minister’s meeting was followed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee holding discussions with Food and Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Wednesday.

Commodities market regulator Forward Market Commission’s chairman B C Khatua was also called for consultations.

According to latest figures released by the commerce and industry ministry, India’s food inflation dipped to 16.91 percent for the week ended Jan 1, compared to 18.32 percent in the previous week.

After five straight weeks of rise in food inflation rate, based on wholesale prices, the fall in the index was because of some tempering in prices of onions, from the peak of Rs.70 per kg.

Prices of other essential commodities like pulses and food grains too came down, according to data made available by the commerce and industry ministry.