-The Times of India   After debating the issue for over a decade, the government on Thursday threw open the multi-brand retail segment to foreign chains such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and others in a move to attract overseas investment and dispel doubts about the coalition's ability to push through big-bang reforms.  After nearly two hours of discussion on Thursday evening, the Union Cabinet decided to allow foreign retailers to hold 51% stake in...

-The Economic Times   Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, D Subbarao said on Tuesday that India's Food Inflation was fanned by change in dietary habits. Commenting on high inflation, Subbarao said that underlying drivers of inflation have changed.  "India needs to address challenge of Food Inflation. Food Inflation has substantially come down but over the last 3.5 years since 2008-2009, average Food Inflation has shot up higher than the past 6...

An unprecedented economic growth during the last decade has also seen increasing malnutrition, hunger and starvation amongst certain sections of society. India ranks 66 in the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) World Hunger Index of 88 countries (Inter-national Food Policy Research Institute). More than 200 million people in this country are denied the right to food. One-third of all underweight children (57 million) in the world due to lack of...

-The Indian Express   Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao on Tuesday cautioned that policies — the significant increase in rural wages triggered by the MGNREGS and inflationary implications of the proposed Food Security Bill — aimed at inclusive growth can stoke inflationary pressures at any rate in the short-term. “The need for making growth inclusive is incontestable, but it is important to recognise that policies aimed at inclusion can stoke inflationary...

-PTI Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Sunday conceded that he went wrong while projecting moderation in inflation which remains near the double-digit mark. "It is true that we were hoping that this (moderation in inflation) will happen earlier, to that extent our credibility becomes a question," he told in a interview for CNN-IBN's TV programme 'Devil's Advocate' when asked why government's repeated projections on inflation proved false. "You should recognise...