As food inflation spurted to a six-month high, Singh said the immediate challenge before the country is how to sustain a high growth path, while keeping inflation in check.
Week on week, food inflation climbed 0.36 percentage points from 15.10 per cent on September 4.
Snapping the two week rising trend, food inflation fell nearly 4 percentage points in the week from 17.05 per cent in the week ended January 22.
On a yearly basis, potatoes became cheaper by over 46 per cent and onions by over 10 per cent.
Food inflation rose to 18.32 per cent for the week ended December 25, because of rise in prices of food items like onion, milk and meat.
Overnight, in the US markets, fear returned to Wall Street.
For the month ended April, the overall inflation, which includes manufactured goods, stood at 9.59 per cent.
Food inflation, which has declined 7 weeks in a row, was at 10.15 per cent for the week ended November 13.
Faced with the dichotomy of overflowing granaries and rising commodity prices, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said the government will do 'everything possible' to put the lid on food inflation.
"Food prices have softened in recent weeks and I expect this to continue," he told the chief ministers, who voiced serious concern over the rising prices. In a stern warning to hoarders, the prime minister said powers under the Essential Commodities Act would be used against them to stop artificial scarcity.
It will be the second Budget of the Modi 3.0 government and eighth straight Budget for Nirmala Sitharaman, rare in Indian polity.
Reserve Bank on Thursday retained the growth and inflation projection at 7.2 per cent and 4.5 per cent respectively for the current fiscal amid expectations of a normal monsoon. In its last bi-monthly monetary policy review in June, RBI had projected real GDP growth and retail inflation at the same.
Food inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index, stood at 6.6 per cent in the previous week.
Though a range of essential items still continue to be expensive, the rate of price rise has been falling for some time now.
The food inflation in the previous week was at 17.58 per cent. On the annual basis, the prices of rice increased 10 per cent, wheat 14 per cent, pulses 35 per cent, onions 11 per cent and potatoes 28 per cent.
'Food inflation is important and if that is controlled, then consumption will go up.'
Dabur's performance in the July-September quarter of the current financial year (Q2FY25) was weak but in line with consensus. Consolidated revenue declined 5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) due to a temporary adjustment in General Trade (GT) inventory. Indian revenue declined 7.6 per cent, while international business grew 13 per cent Y-o-Y in constant currency (CC) terms.
The surge from the last week, which was incidentally the lowest in a-year-and-half, is likely to put more pressure on the government looking bewildered after the overall inflation for March overshot its forecast of 8 per cent.
After a fortnight of being in single digits, food inflation for the week ended July 31 shot up to 11.4 per cent from 9.53 per cent the week earlier on the back of a spike in prices of cereals, milk and fruits.
Following widespread drought and floods in various parts of the country, food inflation climbed to more than a 10-year high of 19.95 per cent in December, driven mainly by higher prices of potato, other vegetables and pulses.
In doing so, it further cemented the community's determination to support the opposition. But at the same time, it consolidated its Hindu vote bank like never before.
The Centre on Thursday began the first phase of retail sales of onion at a subsidised rate of Rs 35 per kg to provide relief to Delhi-NCR and Mumbai consumers from rising prices of the kitchen staple. NCCF and NAFED, which are maintaining a buffer stock of 4.7 lakh tonne onion on behalf of the government, will undertake the retail sale through their own stores and mobile vans. Onion will be sold at 38 retail points in Delhi-NCR and Parel and Malad in Mumbai.
According to official data released on Thursday, onions grew cheaper by 59.04 per cent year-on-year during the week under review, while potato prices were down by 33.76 per cent.
'I wonder if they will keep it up after the elections.' 'I fear they'll start questioning eligibility -- income, age, bank accounts -- and eventually stop the scheme altogether.'
To be out by October, it reflects weight of components in GDP.
Food inflation had softened to 10.05 per cent for the week ended August 14 against 10.35 per cent in the previous week.
Food inflation stood at 20.18 per cent in the comparable period last year.
'Investors can consider staying invested in long duration products as there is a possibility of rate cuts in the near term.' Positive macros - lower inflation, high forex reserves and favourable demand-supply dynamics for government bonds - make a strong case for rate cuts from December, says Devang Shah, head of fixed income, Axis Mutual Fund. In an interview with Abhishek Kumar in Mumbai, Shah says this view may not hold true if commodity prices go up sharply.
The rate of price rise in food items, as calculated on the basis of the wholesale price index, was 8.53 per cent in the previous week and 21.46 per cent in the comparable period of 2010.
Gross Value Added (GVA) growth in agriculture and allied activities in the first quarter of the 2024-25 financial year (Q1FY25) dipped to 2.7 per cent at constant prices from 4.2 per cent in Q1FY24 due to a drop in output of some crops following heatwave in the main growing months. Low post-monsoon rains, which dried most of the reservoirs in several states across the country, also impacted the production of many crops. At current prices, the growth was estimated at 8.5 per cent as against 4.1 per cent in Q1FY24 due to a spike in food inflation during the April to June months of FY25.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has said the decision on interest rate moderation will be based on long-term inflation trajectory and not monthly data. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by the RBI Governor is scheduled to meet between October 7 and 9 and take call on interest rate. The RBI kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent for the ninth time in a row amid risks from higher food inflation.
The price stabilisation fund will call for processing capacity for perishables.
Food inflation fell sharply to a near four-year low of 1.81 per cent for the week ended December 10 as prices of essential items like vegetables, onion, potato and wheat declined.
Retail inflation in August inched up to 3.65 per cent, though vegetables and pulses witnessed price rise in double digits, according to official data released on Thursday. The retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), however, remained below the Reserve Bank's median target of 4 per cent for the second month in a row. It was at a five-year low of 3.6 per cent in July.
Against the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) projection of 7.1 per cent, India's first quarter (Q1) 2024-25 (FY25) gross domestic product (GDP) growth came in at 6.7 per cent. This is in line with market expectations and significantly lower than the 7.8 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2023-24 (FY24) and 8.2 per cent in Q1FY24. The quarter witnessed decreased government consumption and investment spending due to the parliamentary election.
India's manufacturing sector growth eased slightly in July, on softer increases in new orders and output, while cost pressures and demand strength led to the steepest increase in selling prices since October 2013, a monthly survey said on Thursday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) moderated slightly from 58.3 in June to 58.1 in July.
During the week ended August 13, fruits became dearer by 27.01 per cent and eggs, meat and fish by 13.37 per cent on an annual basis.
The Reserve Bank on Tuesday cautioned that continued uncertainty over monsoon could stoke food inflation, but expressed the hope that government policies will improve supplies in the coming months.
While rising food inflation is a matter of grave concern for a significant chunk of the population and for policy makers as well, it marks a turnaround in the fortunes of the farmer, reports Sanjeeb Mukherjee.
The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday decided to keep the policy rate unchanged for the tenth time in a row but changed its stance to 'neutral' that may lead to a cut in the forthcoming policies. RBI maintained status quo despite the US Federal Reserve lowering the benchmark rates by 50 basis points last month.
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