Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today said that food inflation is still high and expressed confidence that it will come down with the full harvest of rabi crops.
“Food inflation is still elevated but we hope that it will come down further as full rabi crops arrive in the market,” he said addressing an IBA meeting here.
The WPI inflation and core inflation have fallen substantially. “CPI inflation has also shown moderation, yet it is still elevated,” he added.
Food inflation stood at 6.08 per cent in April, while the overall WPI inflation fell to a three-year low of 4.89 per cent. However, the retail or consumer price index (CPI) inflation stood at 9.39 per cent.
He further said that as CPI inflation and deposit rates fall, commercial banks should translate the monetary policy to retail borrowers and firms through lower lending rates.
Chidambaram highlighted that while the RBI has already cut the repo rate by 125 basis points since early 2012, the commercial banks have cut rates by only 30 basis points.