Sitharaman vows action to tackle food inflation concerns

Substantial efforts are being made to tame food inflation, with more measures in the pipeline, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured parliamentarians on Thursday. She drew a contrast between India's promising economic prospects and challenges of high inflation, and slow growth in the West and China's struggle with declining consumer demand.

- Rhik Kundu & Gireesh Chandra Prasad

In her speech on the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition, Sitharaman credited the Modi government's policies for stable economic growth. The minister said steps are being taken to cool food inflation. Tur dal (pigeon pea) shipments from Mozambique are on the way, and 300,000 tonnes of urad dal (split and skinned black gram) is expected to be imported from Myanmar to cool prices.

In addition, tomato is being procured from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka for distribution in the National Capital Region (NCR). "We have also initiated (tomato) imports from Nepal by removing the import restrictions, and the first lot of tomatoes are expected to reach Varanasi, Lucknow and Kanpur by Friday," she said.

The minister said aggressive disposal measures are being taken in the case of moong dal (green gram), for which sufficient domestic stock is available. Procurement of imported masoor dal has been initiated, which will add to the reserves.