The consumer price index (CPI) has jumped to nearly 7 percent for the month of March a 17-month high, but more important from the policy angle, it is breaching the 6 percent upper comfort zone or upper mandatory zone for the Monetary Policy Committee.

The worst part of the March inflation number is not that it went to an unexpected 7 percent, but that it was led by food prices -- food inflation was up 7.68 percent and if you exclude vegetables, which are a highly seasonal set of items, then it was up 1 percent month-on-month.

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| Economists believe monetary policy needs course correction as April inflation likely to cross 7%

According to Citi’s Samiran Chakraborty, there is a good chance that MSP or minimum support price may have to be raised more than normal, given a 22 percent rise in agri inputs in the past six months. That will mean another round of food inflation later on in the year.

CNBC-TV18’s Latha Venkatesh spoke to Samiran Chakraborty, Chief Economist-India at Citi; Harish Damodaran, Editor-Agriculture at The Indian Express; Sachchidanand Shukla, Chief Economist at Mahindra Group; and S Mahendra Dev, Director & Vice Chancellor at IGIDR to discuss what can the government do to ease food prices; what may be the future cause of food inflation and what is the impact of food inflation for the rest of the economy.

For full interview, watch accompanying video

Also Read |SBI Chairman wary of inflation but says growth continues to be main focus

First Published:Apr 13, 2022 7:44 PM IST