Food inflation exposes policy failings

Overview

India’s double-digit food inflation will begin to ease by April or May 2010 following the winter harvest and the import of commodities such as pulses and sugar. But this will be no cause for complacency in view of the underlying secular upward trend in food prices. Meanwhile, the spillover effects of high food prices are already beginning to be felt as core inflation has started rising rapidly. Unless the Reserve Bank of India becomes more proactive, it risks failing to keep a check on...