-The Business Standard   Demand-side control cannot be an answer beyond a point to India’s persistently high food price inflation, the World Bank said on Monday. Consumer price-based food inflation in India has been at 10-20 per cent for quite a long while, noted its report on ‘Food inflation in South Asia’. The Bank’s chief economist for the region, Kalpana Kochhar, said controlling inflation in India was a difficult job for the Reserve Bank...

-PTI   Select food items, fuel and clothing grew more expensive in July, leading to a 1.47 per cent rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) vis-a-vis the month of June to 110.4 points. The CPI, based on retail prices, stood at 108.8 points in June, as per data released by the government on Thursday. At the all-India level, the CPI for 'food, beverages and tobacco' went up by 1.57 per cent to 110.3...

Reforms in the supply-chain system can help India tackle the demand-supply mismatch in essential food items Food inflation may have dropped to single digit but since that fall is set against last year’s elevated double-digit base, it continues to hurt the poor — 65 per cent of their disposable income goes towards food. The government often defends its failure to tame inflation by arguing that it has no magic wand to...

Though it remains susceptible to leakages and can do with greater oversight, the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREGS) appears to have boosted rural incomes by providing job seekers at least 100 days' guaranteed labour every financial year. That's why the Union rural development ministry's reported advisory to states to 'informally' suspend NREGS operations during peak farming season isn't a very good idea. For starters, the move would be legally...

-The Times of India   After years of debate, foreign direct investment in retail may soon be a reality with a panel of secretaries expected to approve the framework for allowing global retail chains to set up shop in India later this month. Government sources said the proposal has gained momentum, with both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee backing it, and chances are that the Cabinet could clear...