Bengaluru: As Reserve Bank of India ’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) prepares to deliberate on interest rates and inflation from Oct 5 to 7, rising prices have emerged as a growing concern for ordinary households. Raichur MP and former bureaucrat Kumar Naik has urged Union govt to confront mounting price pressures instead of resorting to appeasement politics. Warning that the widening gap between wholesale and retail inflation could signal deeper economic stress, he cautioned that rising input costs would eventually trickle down to consumers, further squeezing household budgets.
For the family buying food every day, those limits mean little,” he said. He said the Centre’s export restrictions on food commodities reflected inadequate planning. Naik said piecemeal relief could not substitute for a comprehensive strategy to shield households from inflation While acknowledging govt’s efforts to contain petrol and diesel prices and release foodgrains from public stocks.
Unable to pass on the entire increase to already struggling customers, these businesses were facing shrinking margins and the risk of job losses. “Instead of admitting that rising prices are a serious problem, govt is busy quoting numbers and claiming that inflation is ‘within limits’. The pressure, Naik argued, was particularly acute in rural Karnataka, where drought has compounded the financial distress of households already grappling with rising food prices. He also questioned the continued diversion of sugarcane and maize for ethanol production, arguing that food supplies should take precedence when consumers and poultry farmers are struggling with higher costs. He called for faster distribution of essential commodities from govt stocks to drought-hit regions, stronger rural cold-storage infrastructure, measures to reduce food wastage, easier credit for small businesses and effective implementation of the rural employment guarantee scheme.