A meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held with senior cabinet ministers and officials Tuesday, to discuss measures to check rising food prices, ended inconclusively.According to a senior official, the high-level meeting will take place again Wednesday or Thursday.
The meeting began around 10.30 a.m. at the prime minister’s 7, Race Course Road residence.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Economic Advisor to the finance ministry, Kaushik Basu were seen arriving for the meeting.
High prices of food items, especially onions, have led to a sharp rise in India’s annual food inflation to 18.32 percent for the week ended Dec 25.
Although prices of rice, wheat and pulses are currently stable, vegetable prices still remain high. Onion prices continue to rule high at Rs.55-60 per kg in most parts of the country as supplies remain sluggish.
The uptrend in inflation has also raised the sceptre of a rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India, when it takes up the periodical review of the monetary policy this month.
