Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman Thursday said India remains in a “rare position of being optimistic” about its future growth prospects even when the global economy is undergoing a period of gloomy growth and elevated inflation.
She pledged more steps to boost supplies of essential commodities like pulses, tomato and onion to curb food inflation on top measures already taken by the government.
Her comments came on a day when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised retail inflation forecast for FY24 by 30 basis points to 5.4%.
She listed the Modi government’s achievements over the past nine years while speaking in the Lok Sabha in a debate on the no-confidence motion brought by the Opposition against the current regime.
The Indian economy is estimated to grow 6.5% in FY24, the minister said, citing projections by various agencies and RBI. The global economy, according to International Monetary Fund, will likely grow only 3% in 2023, she added.
Inflation control
The minister highlighted the steps to augment supplies of essential commodities. Tur imports from Mozambique are on the way and about 300,000 tonnes of urad would be bought from Myanmar, she said. Adequate stocks of moong are available in the domestic market, so aggressive disposal measures are being undertaken.
About 300,000 tonnes of onion procurement has been completed, she added.
Similarly, India has removed import curbs to buy tomato from Nepal and the first consignment will likely reach Varanasi, Lucknow and Kanpur by Friday, she added.
The National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) is planning to conduct mega sales of tomatoes in the national capital region at a subsidised rate of ₹70 per kg this weekend, she said. The wholesale prices of tomato in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have started dropping below ₹100 a kg, which will help cool prices further, she added.
Already, the government has stepped up tomato procurement from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka for distribution in deficit states through cooperatives like NCCF and NAFED.
