Govt has prohibited exports of wheat flour, rice; impact will be felt in coming weeks: FM Sitharaman on inflation
NDTV
Nirmala Sitharaman's comments came after India's retail inflation rose to 7 per cent in August from 6.71 per cent in the previous month due to a rise in food prices, as per the government data released on Monday.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that the moderate increase in inflation during the July to August period was due to an increase in food and fuel prices.
She added that the government had prohibited exports of food products like wheat flour and rice to keep domestic supplies steady, and the impact of these measures is expected to be felt more significantly in the coming weeks and months,
"The headline inflation based on retail CPI recorded a moderate increase from 6.71 per cent on July 22 to 7.0 per cent on August 22. This increase is attributable both to an adverse base effect and an increase in food & fuel prices - the transient components of CPI inflation," the Finance Minister said in a tweet.
"Prices of major inputs like iron ore and steel have sobered in the global markets. This coupled with the measures taken by the Govt to rationalize tariff structures of inputs to augment domestic supply has helped to keep cost-push inflation in consumer items under control," she added.
