Government will use food stocks to soften prices: Montek
March 18th, 2010 - 11:56 pm ICT by IANS ( Leave a comment )
New Delhi, March 18 (IANS) Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia Thursday said food inflation continues to be matter of worry and the government would use food stocks to soften prices when required.
“We will use food stocks, we have to soften food prices as far as possible,” he said on the sidelines of the 20th Asian Corporate Conference here.
Ahluwalia said he expected a good Rabi (winter) crop this season.
Cheaper vegetables and pulses pulled down food inflation to a four-month low of 16.30 per cent in the first week of March.
He also said a full Planning Commission meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be held on March 23 for a mid-term review and assessment of the economic situation in the country.
Ahluwalia refrained from commenting on the monetary action the Reserve Bank of India may take in its April policy review.
“India has a vibrant economy. The economy will expand 8.5 percent in 2010-11 and 9 percent the year after. This is the thinking in the Planning Commission,” he said.
The government has said India will grow at 7.2 percent this year.
He disagreed with the International Monetary Fund’s perception of Indian growth. “IMF has underpredicted India’s growth next fiscal at 7 percent earlier and revised now at 8 percent,” he said.
–Indi-Asian News Service
san/srj/vt
- Montek hopes headline inflation will decline by September - Jun 10, 2011
- Inflation to fall below 8 percent by fiscal end: Ahluwalia - Oct 20, 2011
- Prices of essential commodities would rise: Ahluwalia - Jun 16, 2010
- Growth could be lower than anticipated: RBI - Jan 23, 2012
- India's food inflation rises for second week - Dec 16, 2010
- Factory output rises 5.9 percent; food prices fall (Roundup) - Jan 12, 2012
- Food inflation still high: Ahluwalia - Oct 21, 2010
- Rate pause will help regain growth momentum: Pranab - Dec 16, 2011
- Police rates hiked to tame inflation: RBI - Aug 12, 2011
- Indian economy to grow 7.7 percent in 2012: UN - Jan 17, 2012
- Shifting focus to growth, RBI infuses Rs.320 bn into system (Roundup) - Jan 24, 2012
- Inflation will slow by March, says Pranab; opposition flays claim (Roundup) - Nov 22, 2011
- Plan panel expects GDP growth in 2011-12 to slip from 8.5 percent (Lead) - May 31, 2011
- Indian economy will grow 7-7.5 percent in 2011-12: PM - Feb 03, 2012
- Difficult to meet 4.6 percent fiscal deficit target: Pranab - Jan 11, 2012
Tags: asian news, bank of india, deputy chairman, economic situation, food prices, food stocks, international monetary fund, manmohan, manmohan singh, montek singh ahluwalia, planning commission, prime minister manmohan, prime minister manmohan singh, pulses, rabi, reserve bank of india, sidelines, srj, vibrant economy, winter crop
