Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will try to strike a balance between growth and inflation at its monetary policy review on Tuesday.
?The RBI is trying to find a balance between the need of growth and the need to contain inflation,? Mukherjee told mediapersons after laying the foundation stone of IFCI-promoted Management Development Institute?s new campus at Murshidabad.
However, he refused to give any guidance on the steps likely to be taken by the central bank at its November 2 monetary policy review. India?s annual food inflation fell to 13.75% for the week ended October 16 from 15.53% during the previous week.
?We need time and you have to allow some time to pass? The prices of the essential commodities went up and continued for long time,? the FM said. ?There were shortages of pulses and edible oil so we have kept the import door opened and supply has been received,? he said.
According to him although prices of the essential commodities go up during the rainy season, this year it continued at higher levels for a long time.
Commenting on the need to revamp public distribution system (PDS) he said, ?when inflation cannot be controlled we can manage it by providing food at a highly subsidised rate.?
The Centre has taken up a scheme to provide 6.5 crore BPL families wheat and rice at Rs 6 and Rs 8, respectively. Out of this 2.5 crore families under Antyoday Annapurna Yojana (AAY) will get wheat at Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg.