Improving farm products supply to arrest price rise: FM

The government is trying to improve supply of some critical farm products which will help moderate the double-digit food inflation in coming weeks, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said today.

"Food inflation has reached double digit which is a matter of concern. Definitely there is a seasonal factor, but apart from that seasonal factor, there are supply constraints in some critical agricultural products which we shall have to remove," Mukherjee told reporters here.

He hoped that it would have some moderating influence in the coming weeks.

"The monetary policy the Reserve Bank has adopted will have impact but will take some time to have full impact on the demand management and in the short and medium term we are trying to improve the supply so that the moderating influence of inflation is felt in the coming week."

After a gap of over five months, food inflation entered the double-digit zone at 10.05% for the week ended August 20, which fanned fears of another hike in policy rates by RBI in mid-quarter monetary policy review scheduled on September 16.