Rising food inflation, slow industrial production matters of concern: Pranab
17 Apr 2012
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that rissing food inflation as also slow industrial production were a matter of concern.
He added that people would have to learn to live with 6 to 7 per cent inflation.
Mukherjee made the statement minutes ahead of the Reserve Bank of India slashing the repo rate, which had been cut by 50 basis points after three years.
Addressing industry chamber CII's annual conference, he said, food Inflation was up 9 per cent which was a matter of concern and the government was making all efforts to check it and hoped it would come down to 6-7 per cent. He said though this was high but people would have to live with it.
On industrial production growth, he said one of the reasons for the state of affairs was the tightening of the monetary policy. The RBI hiked the rate 13 times in the last one year and coupled with pressure on liquidity, msking it difficult for industry to take projects forward.
According to Mukherjee, non-food credit declined to 15.4 per cent in February from 22.8 per cent a year ago.