Inflation measured by the Wholesale Price Index had declined to 6.62 per cent in January. It was 7.18 per cent in December and 7.24 per cent in November.
Disagreeing with Reserve Bank's projection on the price situation, former RBI Governor and PM's Economic Advisory Council chairman C Rangarajan said WPI and CPI may not be as high as being projected by the central bank.
D Subbarao reiterated concerns over rising gold imports and its pressure on current account deficit.
FDI in retail would have a limited impact on small retailers, Chairman of PM's Economic Advisory Council C Rangarajan said.
Growth is going to be an important factor in contributing high tax revenue and in containing the fiscal deficit.
The Planning Commission in May 2012 had constituted the expert group under the then Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan to review the Tendulkar Committee methodology for estimating poverty, following an uproar over the number of poor in the country.
CRR stand at 5.5 per cent after a 50 basis points cut in January.
The private demand is still not picking up and the funds under market stabilisation scheme are also maturing.
The business model of the microfinance sector must change, emphasised C Rangarajan, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, saying that the microfinance movement must have as its ultimate goal the desire to help the poor and enable them to come out of poverty.
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India's CAD -- the gap between inflow and outgo of foreign exchange -- widened to a record high of $88 billion or 4.8 per cent of the gross domestic product for the fiscal ended March 31, from $78.2 billion in 2011-2012, about 4.2 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.
Rangarajan said that growth has many dimensions to it.
Tax devolution shares, which threaten to create a north-south divide among states, may have more to do with per capita income, and not so much with population.
Finance, oil ministry tussle over exports.
Modern organised retail will be helpful in containing inflation and allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail leads to development of back-end infrastructure that will benefit farmers, according to C Rangarajan, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister.
'Fiscal and monetary space is more constrained in developing countries because of inflation and high borrowing cost.'
High gold imports had contributed to high CAD which stood at 5.4 per cent in the second half of 2012-13 and was creating pressure on the rupee.
The six-member panel, which submitted its report to the Prime Minister's Office on December 20, is believed to have suggested pricing of natural gas based on weighted average of the fuel in North America, Europe and Japan markets as well as imported liquefied natural gas.
The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan has said the hike in interest rates will not impact the high economic growth in the face of strong fundamentals.
India's trade deficit has fallen to 10-month low of $14.9 billion in February on improving exports and a sharp drop in imports.
Data earlier on Thursday showed the annual consumer price inflation rose to a higher-than-expected 11.24 per cent in November from 10.17 per cent in October.
Ignoring the rate cut demand of India Inc, RBI in its first quarter monetary policy review kept the short-term lending (repo) rate, at which banks borrow from RBI, unchanged at 8 per cent.
Interest rates may harden a bit by the end of the current financial year, according to C Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council.
The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chief further said that 'inflation is showing signs of coming down and therefore attraction of financial products will be greater'.
Rejecting IMF and World Bank's "unduly" pessimistic projections, Prime Minister's key economic advisory council chairman C Rangarajan on Thursday exuded confidence that the growth would be around 5.5 per cent in the current fiscal.
Food inflation is an area of concern for the common man and government with rate of price rise touching as high as 18.32 per cent in the last week of December mainly fueled by mass consumption items like vegetables, milk and protein-based items.
Not only does there appear to be no meeting ground on the issue of a pricing formula proposed by the committee, the petroleum ministry wants another committee headed by Vijay Kelkar to look into the other major recommendation of moving to the revenue sharing model in exploration and production.
The committee will suggest an action plan for abolishing the present system of classifying expenditure into plan and non-plan, an official statement said.
The finance ministry has rejected the formula and, instead, suggested an alternative that takes into account well-head prices of suppliers in Qatar, Oman, Abu Dhabi and Malaysia.
The price would increase from $4.2/mbtu to $10/mbtu if Rangarajan formula is accepted.
On the reduction in the SLR ratio, he said it was a signal from the point of view of long-term reforms.
Since end-May there has been volatility in the foreign exchange market.
The Rangarajan Committee recommends that mills should be able to sell their sugar in the open market.
The noted economist said some of the bad loans are due to a slowdown in the economy and asset restructuring companies are part of the solution.
The RBI governor, D Subbarao had met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on December 18, fuelling speculation that the monetary policy would be tightened.
The IIP growth has been revised downwards to 1.14 per cent for January, from the provisional estimates of 6.8 per cent, according to the official data released on Wednesday.
In an interview with Business Standard, he says investments would pick up and inflation would fall in the next financial year, providing the Reserve Bank of India the room to cut rates.
Recently, Standards and Poor's had said that there is one third possibility of a rating downgrade of India.
Of the eight RBI governors who have held office since the 1991 economic liberalisation, Bimal Jalan had the longest stint and S Venkitaramanan, the shortest. Current Governor Shaktikanta Das will overtake Bimal Jalan before completing his second term in December, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
PM's economic advisory council chairman C Rangarajan has asked microfinance institutions (MFIs) to overhaul their "flawed" business model for sustainability.
C Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, on Thursday said he expects the Indian economy to grow by 8.5 per cent in FY'12 on the back of services sector and industry expansion, though he hinted that agriculture might not be a big contributor.
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