The government has taken a slew of measures to tame food inflation in recent months including importing pulses and releasing onion stocks at a lower price, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.
Speaking on the floor of the Rajya Sabha, Sitharaman said the government has readied stocks to release onions at a subsidized rate of ₹25 a kilogram to curb the escalating onion prices, through the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Ltd (NCCF), NAFED, Kendriya Bhandar, and other state-controlled cooperatives. “Prices have started coming down and it is well within the tolerance band,” Sitharaman said.
“As of 3 February 2024, we have released 3.96 lakh tonnes of onions in the market at that price,” she added.
Sitharaman said the government has imported 8.79 lakh tonnes of tur dal and 15.14 lakh tonnes of masur dal during calendar year 2023.
“We don’t grow enough of pulses in the country. So (high) pulse prices are due to shortfall in supply,” she said.
“For which, in anticipation, depending on the crop estimates, we have started tying up for imports,” she added.
Similarly, Sitharaman said that branded Bharat chana dal is being made available at ₹60 for one kg pack, and at ₹55 a kg for 30 kg packs, with about 2.96 lakh tonnes of chana dal being sold by 31 January 2024 at that price. As things stand, the NCCF, a unit of the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, has begun the sale of chana dal at ₹60/kg under the Bharat brand.
The dal is being sold at a subsidized price to help control market prices.
“Such steps are being taken for tomatoes and other food products as well,” Sitharaman said. Efforts have shown results on the ground with the inflation level at a tolerable point now, she added.
Retail inflation rose to 5.69% in December, up from 5.55% the previous month, the steepest monthly rise since August 2023.
Interestingly, during the April-December 2023 period, the highest monthly retail inflation was reported during December, after July and August, with July reporting the highest inflation rate of 7.4% in 15 months due to a sharp rise in prices of vegetables and other food items such as pulses, spices and cereals.
Food inflation, measured by the consumer food price index, which accounts for nearly half of the overall consumer price basket, rose to 9.53% in December, up from 8.70% in November, 6.61% in October and 6.62% in September.
The high inflation levels earlier had prompted the government to take supply-side measures such as releasing substantial cereal stocks from reserves while proactively managing the imports and exports of pulses to ensure supplies. The government had also restricted exports of rice and sugar to tame inflation.
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Published: 06 Feb 2024, 08:37 PM IST