As per the Economic Survey, the short-term inflation outlook for India is quite moderate, while the expectation of a normal monsoon and moderating global prices of key imported items give the needed credence to the projections made by the RBI and IMF.
Having said so, expanding the area under pulses, and assessing the progress in developing modern storage facilities for specific crops to ensure long-term policy stability, the Survey 2023-24 suggested making focused efforts to increase the production of major oilseeds.
Furthermore, the Economic Survey 2023-24 which was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, also suggests the linking of price monitoring data for essential food items collected by different departments so as to help monitor and quantify the build-up of prices at every stage, right from the farm gate to the final consumer.
"The ongoing efforts to construct the producer price index for goods and services may be expedited to have a greater grasp of episodes of cost-push inflation," said the Survey authored by a team of economists led by V Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor.
Moreover, it also prescribed revising the consumer price index with fresh weights and item baskets expeditiously.
Back in 2023, India's inflation rate was within its target range of 2 to 6 percent. And if we compare to advanced economies like the USA, Germany, and France, India had one of the lowest deviations from its inflation target if we look at the triennial average inflation from 2021-2023, the Survey said.
India has successfully managed to keep retail inflation at 5.4 percent in FY24. This is the lowest level since the Covid-19 pandemic period. Also, retail inflation in June witnessed an upsurge to a four months high of 5.1 percent. Additionally, wholesale inflation stood at 3.36 percent in the month on account of rise in prices of food articles, especially vegetables and manufactured items.
