Food inflation soared to 17.47 per cent in the third week of November from 15.58 per cent a week ago, mirroring a shortage in supply that set in following weak monsoon in the country. With the economy on upswing, analysts said the rising food prices should prompt the government and the Reserve Bank of India to shift their focus on controlling inflation, otherwise it would increase manufacturing inflation as well. The...

The Indian economy is picking up and should be able to expand at eight to nine per cent. It is high time that the government initiates a universal public distribution system covering at least the essential commodities. Incomes of the rich will go up and India will be a major player in the world when it revives. But the bulk of the population, about 70 per cent, will remain poor with...

Unprecedented rise in potato prices pushes up inflation  Food inflation soared to 15.58 per cent for the week ended November 14 in the wake of an unprecedented rise in the prices of potato and other essential items. Official data based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) released here on Thursday for the week revealed that while potato prices have more than doubled in the past 12 months, other basic food...

Amid concerns that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could tighten its monetary policy in January 2010, inflation during October more than doubled to 1.34 per cent, as compared to 0.5 per cent a month earlier, mostly due to the rising cost of essential food items. In the first monthly data released by the government on Saturday, the build-up inflation in the financial year so far was 6.13 per cent...

For a man who will inherit vast tracts of fertile farmland in Punjab, India's grain bowl, Jaswinder Singh made what seemed to him a logical career move -- he took a job with a telecoms company in New Delhi. "I can't go back to the village after an M.B.A. Delhi has more money, better quality of life. The job is more satisfying, and you don't depend on the weather or...