Govt to take more measures to lower the burden of inflation: PM Modi

A day after retail inflation hit a 15-month high, breaching the central bank’s upper tolerance limit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday promised to take more measures to minimise the burden of inflation on countrymen. 

“India has tried its best to control inflation. Compared to the previous period, we have also had some success, but we cannot be complacent with that. We should not be complacent that our things are better than that of the world. I have to take more steps in this direction to minimise the burden of inflation on my countrymen. And we will continue to take that step. My efforts will continue,” Modi said from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of the 77th Independence Day.

Data released on Monday showed the retail inflation galloped to 7.44 per cent in July from 4.87 per cent in the preceding month on the back of skyrocketing prices of vegetables, pulses, cereals, and spices.

Modi attributed the elevated inflation, in part, to high costs of imports. “The world has not yet come out of the adverse impacts of Covid-19; the war has again created an additional problem. Today the world is facing the crisis of inflation. Inflation has gripped the economy of the whole world. We also import some goods from around the world. Unfortunately, we have to import at inflated prices. So, this whole world has been gripped by inflation.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das, in his monetary policy statement last week, said the role of continued and timely supply-side interventions assumed criticality in limiting the severity and duration of such shocks. “The frequent incidences of recurring food price shocks pose a risk to anchoring of inflation expectations, which has been underway since September 2022,” he had cautioned.

Modi said a new global order and geopolitical equation was rapidly emerging in the post-pandemic world, and India would play a crucial role in it. “All interpretations of the geopolitical equation are changing, definitions are changing. My dear family members, you will take pride that the world is seeing the capabilities of my 1.4 billion fellow citizens in shaping the world. You are standing at a turning point,” he said.

The prime minister said India's prosperity and heritage were turning into opportunities for the world today. “With India’s participation in the global economy and the global supply chain and with the place that India has earned for itself, I can say with full confidence that the current scenario here today has brought a guarantee of stability in the world. There are no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’ now in our minds, or in the minds of my 1.4 billion family members, or in the mind of the world. There is complete trust,” he said.

To fulfil the dream of making India a developed country by 2047, Modi said hard work as well as building a national character was crucial. “The countries that have progressed, the ones that have overcome challenges, all of them have had a crucial catalyst –- their national character. We must further strengthen our national character and move forward,” he said.

“It is our collective responsibility that our nation, our national character, should be vigorous, dynamic, hardworking, valiant, and outstanding. For the coming 25 years, we should follow only one mantra, which should be the pinnacle of our national character. We should move forward with the message of living the unity of India and refrain from any language or step which will cause any harm to the unity of India,” he said.

Modi said the country needs to fight against corruption, nepotism, and appeasement to become a developed economy. “If something has destroyed social justice, then this appeasement thinking, appeasement politics. Government schemes for appeasement have indeed killed social justice. And that’s why we realise appeasement and corruption are the biggest enemies of development,” he said.