NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's adequate food stocks would help contain inflation, even if summer monsoon rains turn out to be weak, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian said on Tuesday.
The June-September monsoon season is vital for India as half its croplands lack irrigation, but a forecast of less rain than usual this summer due to the emergence of the El Nino has threatened farm output.
India's retail inflation in April cooled to a four-month low of 4.87 percent on slower annual increases in food costs, government data showed earlier this month.
(Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Malini Menon)
