The central government is keeping an eye on the price situation and will continue the targeted attack on inflation, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. She noted that consumer price inflation is still high. She told reporters, "As RBI has estimated, both RBI and government would have to be watchful till the start of the second half of the (fiscal) year."
Her comments were made shortly after official data revealed that June retail inflation dropped to 7.01 percent. The reading was lower than the 7.04 percent reported in May, but it was still above than the RBI's 6 percent comfort limit.
India's financial year is from April to March and second half would be from October. We will need to pay attention to and be mindful of the price movement, she said. "I will keep an eye out for anything that changes in price, item by item. Continued scathing criticism of inflation is required. A favourable monsoon will result in high production and rural demand, the finance minister added.
The government has previously taken a number of actions to lower prices. These include lowering the excise duty on gasoline and diesel, prohibiting the export of wheat, permitting the duty-free import of some types of crude edible oil, and changing the steel and steel product duty structure. In addition, due to a drop in worldwide prices, the government directed edible oil producers to lower the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of edible oils by Rs 15 per litre.
The central bank will continue to take monetary action to anchor inflation with the goal of ensuring robust and sustained growth, according to RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, who stated last week that the price situation will progressively improve in the second half of the current fiscal.
Retail inflation drops slightly in June to 7.01 pc