MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE(SHRI NAMO NARAIN MEENA)
(a) The following table gives month-wise Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based
year-on-year inflation in rice, wheat, pulses, vegetables, fruits and milk
during 2008-09 and 2009-10. The variation in WPI based inflation could be
attributed to seasonal factors, base effect of last year and expectation of
supply side constraints, especially due to unfavourable south-west monsoon in
2009-10.
Table: WPI based year-on-year inflation in select commodities
during 2008-09 and 2009-10 (%)
Rice Wheat Pulses Vegetables Fruits Milk (Wt.2.45%) (Wt. 1.38%) (Wt. 0.60%) (Wt. 1.46%) (Wt. 1.46%) (Wt. 4.37%)
2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 -09 -10 -09 -10 -09 -10 -09 -10 -09 -10 -09 -10
Apr 8.73 14.68 6.82 5.74 -2.38 13.68 5.13 16.40 1.22 5.47 9.01 5.83
May 7.96 16.43 7.19 7.44 -2.89 16.96 0.54 21.03 5.58 -2.91 7.93 6.26
Jun 7.61 17.49 7.69 6.50 -1.30 18.12 1.82 24.53 5.62 2.52 8.30 7.39
Jul 7.80 16.89 8.18 3.24 1.44 23.02 -4.90 30.60 11.91 2.33 7.55 9.51
Aug 6.61 17.52 6.95 3.21 6.56 21.14 -8.52 23.31 21.11 1.40 6.50 9.60
Sep 5.40 20.59 7.81 4.84 8.51 20.85 -2.66 15.95 16.42 6.50 6.96 9.67
Oct 11.23 14.29 5.02 9.31 8.88 25.08 12.75 7.06 15.79 5.90 7.25 10.03
Nov 12.57 13.50 3.95 16.88 10.99 42.30 24.35 18.77 14.14 10.19 6.76 13.74
Dec 15.07 12.33 4.83 12.04 12.59 41.58 7.65 39.22 15.91 9.83 7.40 13.36
Jan 15.19 12.03 5.27 14.86 13.57 45.64 15.36 11.79 18.63 5.86 8.14 13.99
Feb 17.12 6.10 16.88 6.55 11.62 7.33
Mar 16.74 4.63 10.83 -5.27 7.54 7.43
Note: Inflation figures for December 2009 and January 2010 are provisional.
(b) to (e) A conference of Chief Ministers to discuss the issues relating to
prices of essential commodities was convened by the Ministry of Consumer
Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on 6th February 2010. The conference
recognised that insulation of the poor and the vulnerable from adverse price
movements was the prime concern of the governments. It also recognised that
the responsibility has to be shared by the government at the centre and states
on a coordinated basis. The conference recommended constitution of a Standing
Core Group of State Chief Ministers and Central Ministers concerned. The
Ministry of Agriculture, has initiated the process of constitution of standing
core group, with the Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister, Chairman, Prime
Ministerâs Economic Advisory Council and Dy. Chairman Planning Commission from
the Central Government and the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Gujarat, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Punjab and Haryana,
as members and the following terms of reference as recommended by the conference
of deliberating on and recommending measures to:
(i) Increase agricultural production and productivity (including long term
policies for sustained agricultural growth);
(ii) Reduce the gap between farm gate prices and retail prices;
(iii) Better implementation of and amendment to Essential Commodities Act;
(iv) Ensure better and effective delivery of essential commodities to the
vulnerable sections of society;
(v) Augmentation of warehousing and storage capacity (including cold chains);
(vi) Issues relating to inputs viz. seeds/fertilizers etc.
(f) The Government has taken several measures to check inflation in food items
which include: reducing import duties to zero- for rice, wheat, pulses, edible
oils (crude) and sugar; reducing import duties on refined & hydrogenated oils &
vegetable oils; allowed import of raw sugar at zero duty under open general
licence (OGL); two million tonnes of wheat and one million tonnes of rice have
been allocated to states for distribution to retail consumers over and above
normal Public Distribution System allocation; banned export of non-basmati rice,
edible oils and pulses (except, kabuli chana) and imposed stock limit orders in
the case of paddy, rice, pulses, sugar, edible oils and edible oilseeds