SME Times News Bureau
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday voiced concern about high inflation but said it would ease due to a gradual fall in prices of food items.
"I am concerned about prevailing high rate of inflation," said Mukherjee, addressing a conference organised by an industry lobby.
"The CPI (consumer price index) inflation is high because of the high prices of food items. But I expect it to decline as the prices of food items are going down," he added.
India's annual food inflation dipped to 16.04 percent for the week ended April 24 from a high of 19.95 percent in December 2009, while the annual overall inflation was at 9.9 percent in March.
Meanwhile, the third advance estimate released by the government today showed that India's foodgrain production is estimated to decline by 6.95 percent to 218.19 million tonnes in the 2009-10 season against 234.47 million tonnes in the year-ago season.
The finance minister was buoyant about the economy's growth prospects in the current fiscal and said the gross domestic product would increase to 8.5 percent.
"I expect strong growth with the further improvement in business confidence," he told business leaders.
