The Bharatiya Janata Party notes with dismay the fact that the consumer price inflation in India today is the highest among all the countries of Asia-Pacific.
The policy review observed that the moderation in inflation, excluding food and fuel, that was witnessed in the first quarter of 2017-18 has "by and large, reversed".
After a delayed start, the monsoon is advancing steadily.
The decline in inflation was broad-based across major commodity groups except housing and fuel and light.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said that retail inflation is expected to remain close to 5 per cent
Benchmark 10-year bond yields hit a 13-month peak as bond traders priced in more aggressive monetary easing next year.
Consumer prices were forecast to have risen 10.00 per cent annually last month, barely changed from the 10.09 per cent clocked in October.
In another round of economic booster, Sitharaman announced steps to help homebuyers and push exports.
Analysts are expecting inflation to fall further in October and November on base effect. Inflation measured by consumer prices has been trending down for over four months, and came in at 6.7 per cent in September.
Gold prices surged by Rs 100 to close at Rs 15,090 per ten gram today on heavy buying by jewellery fabricators amid firming global trend.
The 30-share index ended higher by 481.16 points or 1.91 per cent at 25,626.75 -- its highest closing since January 1.
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The 30-share Sensex gained 271 points to end at 28,805 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 84 points at 8,712.
The overall consumer food inflation in August fell to 5.91 per cent as against 8.35 per cent in July
Keeping pace with the rapidly changing income and consumption pattern, the government will soon come out with a new Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and develop indices for measuring growth of SSI sector and calculating consumer prices in urban areas.
Through increase in import duty, the government aims to help domestic oilseed crushers and edible oil producers who suffered badly last year due to cheap imports
Raghuram Rajan remains focused on a long-term inflation target of 4 percent.
RBI targets to keep inflation at 4 per cent, (+/- 2 per cent), and its rise beyond this comfort zone will put pressure on the central bank to hike rates.
The 6-member Monetary Policy Committee, headed by Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel, in its fifth bi-monthly review, kept the repo rate unchanged at 6 per cent and reverse repo at 5.75 per cent.
Costlier vegetables slowly pushed retail inflation, which had remained well within the Reserve Bank's comfortable level of 4 per cent during most part of 2019, peaked to more than three-year high of 5.54 per cent in November.
The decline in retail inflation has been mainly on account of falling prices of vegetables and pulses
If the interest rate on bank deposits is linked to any external benchmark, it would jeopardise the banks' fund-raising ability. Interest rates on small savings schemes are likely to be reduced very shortly, to maintain parity. All these steps would indeed affect retired people, and particularly those dependent on interest income, says Arindam Gupta.
Most immediately, he pledged to move slowly if needed in winding down an oil window that provides dollars directly to state-run oil companies
Starting August, various festivals are celebrated in different parts of the country leading to higher sales of commodities ranging from sweets, fruits and food items
The pace of retail price rise in January 2016 is the highest since 6.46 per cent in September 2014.
Says current interest rates are a disincentive for growth, especially in the construction sector
By no means do economists see the Reserve Bank of India stop at just a 25-bp cut. Some of the economists such as Soumyakanti Ghosh of State Bank of India are of the firm view that rates have room to fall by a total of 75 bps in the current financial year, starting with 25 bps in the August 7 policy.
According to Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic advisor of the State Bank of India group, a 50 bps rate cut is a possibility, but 25 bps is more likely.
The commodity price shock absorber is no longer working as it did in the past
The likely solution that appears before the AAP government is to seek for a higher quota of domestic natural gas for Delhi, which would bring down auto and cooking gas prices.
Wholesale fuel prices in May fell 10.51 per cent year-on-year.
"There are limits to which we can keep consumer prices unaffected by rising import costs. Our oil companies cannot go on incurring losses. This way they will have no money to import crude oil from abroad," the Prime Minister said in an address to the nation.
"The main risk stems from the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the south west monsoon in view of the rising probability of an El Nio event around July-August, and its implications for food inflation," RBI said, as it kept the status quo on key interest rate for the third time in a row.
While the farmers are not getting remunerative prices for their produce, at the same time they are forced to pay high prices for items they consume.
The revised salaries of central government employees are likely to be paid from July 1, 2016.
At least a 25 basis points hike can be expected on the October 5 policy
Although demonetisation and improper implementation of GST along with falling prices are being blamed for much of the distress in rural India for some time, experts believe those may not be the only reason.
The outlook is improving and that mostly reflects the fact that the new government has pledged to prioritise economic reforms.
Slowdown in industrial production notwithstanding, a marginal increase in inflation raised the clamour for another round of rate cut by the Reserve Bank on April 4 to boost economic activity.
Two leading economists associated with the multi-commodity exchange have pointed to serious flaws in the present method of calculating inflation and called for a change in line with prevalent methodologies in developed economies.
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