Inflation would remain within the range of 4% to 6% in the coming year and the Union government was taking periodic steps to contain it, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj said on Wednesday.
“The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with guidance on inflation and it has said that inflation, which is little bit up, will cool down in sometime. And we also feel that once the crops come out, inflation should come down,” Mr. Bajaj said a press conference in Mumbai.
Asserting that the government had adopted various strategies to reign in inflation, the top Revenue official said the government had reduced duties on a number of products such as edible oil and pulses to improve supplies.
“We are taking care of the important items in the consumer basket and the RBI has taken a few steps so that inflation goes down. Our own estimation is that the inflation rate will remain within the band of 4% to 6%,” he said.
Elaborating on the steps taken by the government, Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “If you look at the last few months, even during corona when there were supply side disruptions, even then we had maintained it [inflation] well under 6%”.
And when inflation had increased for a few months, a Group of Ministers had held periodic meetings to monitor prices and ensure supplies were maintained in the market, she added.
“Together with State governments we worked to ensure that no hoarding was happening” Ms. Sitharaman said, adding that it had helped cool prices.
“So, by periodically opening up imports of pulses, edible oil, reducing customs duty on them, we have managed to [see that]supplies get a boost. As a result, last month food inflation definitely came down. We are ensuring that it [inflation] is not a cause for worry even if we are keeping the [economic] momentum on through stimulus,” she added.
