Rains to cool prices, PLIS to trim trade gap: Finmin
When the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls ends today, Gujarat will enter a shrill campaign pitch for the third round. But one constituency will be unusually quiet: Surat. The Bharatiya Janata Party candidate has already won unopposed from here, with all others disqualified or dropping out (opponents smell foul play). This was only the first time in 35 years and 14th since 1962 that an MP got elected unopposed in a main election (excluding bypolls). On the flip side, there are also times when the battleground gets crowded, with the 1996 poll for Nalgonda (Andhra Pradesh) being the biggest ever, with 480 candidates. Most were independents, and nearly all lost their deposits—both common features of such packed contests. Full analysis and more charts on livemint.com/topic/in-charts.
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18
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5
26
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The number of times since 1962 when five or more candidates on a seat were able to retain their security deposits. This means that in most cases, barring three or four major candidates, all others end up forfeiting their deposits.
The forecast of abovenormal monsoon rains in 2024 indicates a good harvest, potentially easing inflationary concerns in the coming months, the finance ministry’s latest monthly economic review said.
However, despite global inflation remaining either in check or declining in most regions, the recent uptick across nations, along with persistent core inflation, warrants attention, the ministry’s March review released on Thursday said.
“In India, the government and RBI’S (Reserve Bank of India’s) efforts to combat inflation, including calibrated policy rates, strengthening food buffers, and easing imports, have ensured effective inflation management,” the review said.
“Consequently, retail inflation in 2023-24 witnessed a significant decline, reaching its lowest level since the covid-19 pandemic, with core inflation dropping to 3.3% in March 2024,” it added.
Core inflation strips out the prices of food and energy that tend to be volatile.
Last week, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast the June-september south-west monsoon to be above normal—at 106% of the long-period or 50-year average of 87 cm of rainfall. The upbeat prediction has bolstered hopes of a growth revival in the farm sector that was hit by erratic rainfall last year.
“Further easing of food prices is on the anvil as IMD has predicted above-normal rainfall during the monsoon season, which is likely to lead to higher production, assuming good spatial and temporal distribution of the rainfall,” the ministry said.
India’s food inflation, accounting for nearly half the overall consumer price basket, eased marginally to 8.52% in March, from 8.66% in February, as prices of meat, fish, eggs and vegetables remained elevated. Food inflation stood at 8.30% in January and 9.53% in December.
Meanwhile, retail inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, fell to a 10-month low of 4.85% in March, slipping below the 5% mark for the first time since November 2023,