New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is meeting his ministry officials on Wednesday, a day after wholesale price inflation in May shot up by 0.79% and sent the government scrambling for ways to control it.
Jaitley is also slated to meet key ministers, including Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday.
Steps to check food inflation as well as efforts being taken to boost supply of pulses through its newly-created buffer stock and also from imports are likely to be discussed.
In many states, the price of essential commodities have soared due to insufficient rainfall.
Tomato prices in most retail markets across the country have doubled to Rs 80 per kg in the last 15 days due to sluggish supply owing to crop damage. Potato rates have also been on the rise. A sharp rise in prices has also been seen for fruits, meat, fish, eggs and fuel. Retail prices of pulses are still ruling high at over Rs 170 a kg.
Industry, too, is demanding policy action to address supply-side constraints.
With the firming up of both wholesale and retail inflation, the Reserve Bank may delay the interest rate cut despite a sluggish industrial output.
WPI Inflation in vegetables stood at 12.94 per cent in May, a sharp rise from 2.21% a month earlier. Pulses inflation remained stubborn at 35.56%. Food inflation rose to 7.88% in May as against 4.23% in April, the data showed.
Comments
0 comment