TAD NewsDesk, New Delhi: One of the most concerning issues in the country is the rise in food inflation in both the wholesale and retail markets. India’s economy is constantly going downhill while the inflation rate is pertinently rising. The wholesale food inflation rose to 4.04% in September, with prices up 8.17% in the same month last year.
For pulses, the inflation rate even rose to a greater limit in September. It stood at 11.62% with prices up 12.53% in the same month last year.
Comparative data of the price index is as follows:
- The combined index for pulse prices has increased from 149.8 to 150.9 between August and September.
- The consumer price index (CPI) – based was reported at 6.7 per cent for August, from 6.73% in July, since food inflation could not fall below 9 per cent.
- Moreover, at the retail level, the price index for pulse and derived products stood at 150.3 in rural areas and 152.2 in urban centres, compared to 149.3 and 150.8 respectively in August.
The base year for the index is still 2012 presently.
Some of the important pulses with a high price has induced the government to open import quotas and release in the market some amount of the pulses government bought under Minimum Support Price (MSP). The pulses include mostly pigeon pea (Tur) and black mapte beans (Urad). 4 lakh metric ton or (MT) was opened for pigeon peas and 1.5 lakh metric ton opened for black mapte beans. The expiry date of November 15 and March 31 is set by the government respectively.
The retail inflation has been constantly in rise as has been set by Reserve Bank of India at 6% for nine consecutive months. The Core inflation is at a rise now and is increasing gradually. It has reached 6% beating previous year’s 4%.
The agricultural economy is healing slowly. Exports and Imports are slowly getting back to the normal of the pre-COVID times. Also, there are chances that the production graph will rise in 2020-2021 because of the sharp rise in sowing acreage.
Production has taken a hit this year in many countries because of the Pandemic. So India’s hopeful surplus has raised export prospects as well. As the festive season is at the doorstep, prices are likely to go a new high and it could be expected to keep on increasing till the end of this year.
