Statsguru: Can pricier loans tame food prices in India? Debate heats up

Agricultural output and food prices in India were significantly affected in 2022-23 and 2023-24, mainly due to unpredictable monsoons and the effects of climate change

Retail food inflation hit the double-digit mark in October, the first time in 15 months, sparking a debate on the inflation-targeting framework. There have been varying voices from the government and the Mint Road in this regard.

 

While Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman advocated more benign bank interest rates to help industry raise its capacities, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has called the idea of using these rates to control food inflation an “absolutely flawed theory”. Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran, meanwhile, has noted that removing highly volatile items like tomatoes, onions, potatoes (TOP) and precious metals from the