Upload
ironik8
View
221
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 1/20
PROJECT
REPORT
ON
MANAGEMENT
OF INFLATION
AND GROWTH IN
AN INDIAN
ECONOMY
SUBMITTED
TO: SUBMITTED
BY:
Ms.Nisha
Mary
Thomas
1.Aakriti
Upadhya
y
3. Neha Dubey
4. Rajesh Kumar
CONTENTS
PAR
TIC
ULARS
PAG
E
NU
MB
ER
Infl
atio
n
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 2/20
3-5
y H ow inflation is measured?
y Causes of inflation
y Effect of inflation
Current Scenario 6-7
y Causes of
inflation in year
2010
y RBIs Role
Broad historical context 7-8
Long term Prospective8-11
y Growth-inflation
balance
y Secret to
acceleratinggrowth
Conclusion11
Suggestions
12-13
References
14
9. INFLATION
Everywhere there are
headlines.Inflation
.Mehengai.and even
songs are made onthese factors. Now let
us look what is
inflation:-
Inflation can be defined
as a rise in the general
price level and therefore a fall in the
value of money .
Inflation occurs when
the amount of buyingpower is higher than
the output of goods and services. Inflation also
occurs when the
amount of money
excee
ds theamou
nt of goods
and servic
esavail
able.
As to
whet her
thefall in
thevalue
of mone
y will
affect
the
functions of
mone
y depen
ds on
the
degree of
the
fall .
Basic
ally,
refers
to an
incre
ase inthe
suppl
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 3/20
y of currency or credit relative to the
availability of goods and services,resulting in higher prices.
Therefore, inflation can be measured in
terms of percentages. The percentage
increase in the price index, as a rate per cent per unit of time, which is usually in
years. The two basic price indexes are
used when measuring inflation, the
producer price index (PPI) and the
consumer price index (CPI) which is also
known as the cost of living index number .
2. HOW INFLATION IS MEASURED?
Inflation is normally given as a percentageand generally in years or in some instances
quarterly and is derived from the
Consumer Price Index (CPI).
H owever, there are two main indices used to measure inflation. The first is the
Consumer Price Index, or the CPI . The CPI is
a measure of the price of a set group of
goods and services. The bundle, as the
group is known, contains items such as
food, clothing, gasoline, and even
computers. The amount of inflation ismeasured by the change in the cost of the
bundle: if it costs 5% more to purchase the
bundle than it did one year before, there
has been a 5% annual rate of inflation over
that period based on the CPI . You will also
often hear about the Core Rate or the
Core CPI . There are certain items in the
bundle used to measure the CPI that are
extremely volatile, such as gasoline prices. By eliminating the items that can
significantly affect the cost of the bundle(in either direction) on a month-to-month
basis, the Core rate is thought to be a
better indicator of real inflation, the slow,but steady increase in the price of goods
and services.
The second measure of inflation is the
Producer Price Index,or the PPI . While the
CPI indicates thechange in the
purchasing power of aconsumer, the PPI
measures the change in
the purchasing power
of the producers of those goods. The PPI
measures how muchproducers of products
are getting on thewholesale level, i.e. the
price at which a good issold to other businesses
before the good is sold
to a consumer . The PPI
actually combines aseries of smaller indices
that cross many industries and measure
the prices for threetypes of goods: crude,
intermediate and finished . Generally, the
markets are most concerned with the
finished goods because
these are a strong
indicator of what will happen with future CPI
reports. The CPI is amore popular measure
of inflation than thePPI, but investors watch
both closely .
3.
CAU
SES
OF
INFLATIO
N Inflat ion
comes in
differ
ent
forms
and those
at
arefamili
ar with
the
econo
mic
matters
woul
d obser
vethat
there
are
trend
s intheway
that
price
s are
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 4/20
moving gradual and irregular in
relation to aggregate sections of theeconomy . This suggest that there is
more than one factor that causesinflation and as different sections of the
economy develop it gives rise todifferent types inflationary periods. The
main causes of inflation are:
Demand-pull Inflation
Cost push Inflation
Monetary inflationStructural inflation
Imported inflation
DEMAND-PULL INFLATION Demand-pull inflation occurs when the
consumers, businesses or the
governments demand for goods and
services exceed the supply; therefore the
cost of the item rises, unless supply isperfectly elastic. The increase in
demand is created from in increase in
other areas, such as the supply of
money, the increase of wages which
would then give rise in disposableincome. As a result of the aggregatespending there would also be an
increase in demand for exports and
possible hoarding and profiteering from
producers. The excessive demand, theprices of final goods and services would
be forced to increase and this increase
gives rise to inflation.
COST-PUS H INFLATION Cost-push inflation is caused by an
increase in production costs. It is
generally caused by an increase in
wages or an increase in
the profit margins of the entrepreneurs.
When wages areincreased, this causes
the business owner to inturn increase the price
of final goods and services which would be
passed onto the
consumers and the
same consumers arealso the employees. As a
result of the increase inprices for final goods
and services theemployees realise that
their income isinsufficient to meet
their standard of living
because the basic cost
of living has increased . The trade unions then
act as the mediator for the employees and
negotiate better wagesand conditions of
employment . If thenegotiations are
successful and theemployees are given the
requested wage
increase this would
further affect the pricesof goods and services
and invariably affected .
MONETARY
INFLATION
Mone
tary inflat
ionoccur
swhen
thereis an
exces
sive
suppl y of
money . It is
under stood
that the
gover
nmen
t incre
asesthe
money
suppl y
faster than
the
quant
ity of goods
increases,
which
result s in
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 5/20
inflation. Interestingly as the supply of
goods increase the money supply has toincrease or else prices actually go down.
When a dollar is worth less because thesupply of dollars has increased, all
businesses are forced to raise prices just to get the same value for their
products.
STRUCTURAL INFLATION Planned inflation that is caused by a
governments monetary policy is called
structural inflation. This type of inflation is not caused by the excess of
demand or supply but is built into aneconomy due to the governments
monetary policy .
In India where the majority of the
population live in the rural areas and depend on agriculture and the
government implements a new industry,
some people get employment outside
the agricultural sector and settle downin urban areas. Because there might be
an unequal distribution of land ownership and tenancy, technological
backwardness and low rates of
investments in agriculture inclusive of
inadequate growth of the domesticsupply of food which corresponds with
an increase in demand arising from
increasing urbanization and population
prices increase.
Food being the key wage-good, an
increase in its price tends to raise other prices as well . Therefore, some
economists consider food prices to be
the major factor, which leads to
inflation in the developing economies.
IMPORTED
INFLATION Another type of inflation is imported
inflation. This occurswhen the inflation of
goods and services from
foreign countries that
are experiencinginflation are imported
and the increase in
prices for that imported
good or service will
directly affect the cost
of living. Another way imported inflation can
add to our inflation
rate is when overseas
firms increase their prices and we pay more
for our goodsincreasing our own
inflation.
4
. EFFECT OF INFLATION Inflation can havepositive and negative effects on an economy.
Negative effects of inflation include loss in
stability in the real
value of money and
other monetary items
over time; uncertainty about future inflationmay discourage
investment and saving,
and high inflation may
lead to shortages of
goods
if
consumers
begin
hoarding
out of conce
rn
that
prices will
increase in
thefutur
e. Positi
ve
effect
sinclu
de amitig
ationof
economicrecess
ions,
and debt
relief
by
reducing
the
real level
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 6/20
of debt .
Most effects of inflation are negative,and can hurt individuals and companies
alike, below are a list of negative and positive effects of inflation:
H oarding (people will try to get rid of
cash before it is devalued, by hoardingfood and other commodities creating
shortages of the hoarded objects).
Distortion of relative prices (usually the
prices of goods go higher, especially theprices of commodities).
Increased risk H igher uncertainties
(uncertainties in business always exist,but with inflation risks are very high,
because of the instability of prices).
Income diffusion effect (which is
basically an operation of incomeredistribution).
Existing creditors will be hurt (because
the value of the money they will receive
from their borrowers later will be lower than the money they gave before).
Fixed income recipients will be hurt
(because while inflation increases, their
income doesnt increase, and thereforetheir income will have less value over
time).
Increased consumption ratio at the
early stages of inflation (people will beconsuming more because money is moreabundant and its value is not lowered
yet).
Lowers national saving
(when there is a highinflation, saving money
would mean watchingyour cash decrease in
value day after day, sopeople tend to spend
the cash on somethingelse).
CURRENT
SCENARIO
The long-term growth
prospects of the Indian
economy provide an
enormously attractive
investment environment for a range of businesses
and, consequently, for
the people who would
finance them. H owever,
as attractive as the
opportunity may seem,
the assessment would
not be complete without a full understanding of
the risks. We will focus
on the risk of
macroeconomic
instability, with
particular emphasis
on the issue of
inflation: what drives
it and whether it
threatens to get out of control. An unavoidable
consequence of runaway
inflation, however we
define it, is that drastic
action by the central
bank
and also
by the
gover
nment is
neede
d to
rein it
in,
which
is
boun
d to
disrupt thegrowt
h
proce
ss.
The
challe
nge,
theref
ore, is
tokeep
inflati
on in
check
over
longperio
ds of
time,
allowing
the
econo
my to
grow
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 7/20
at its potential rate with minimal
disruptions and deviations. This is thebest way in which the macroeconomic
environment can contribute to a positive
business climate.
We will begin by discussing the current
inflationary scenario in India, which, as
we have been saying in our recent
assessments, is not very reassuring. We
will then place this scenario in a broad
historical context, with the intention of
demonstrating that India has a good
record of reining inflation in, regardless
of what has driven it . The structure of thedomestic economy and the financial
system may have changed and the global
context may be different, but the
effectiveness of inflation control over the
decades has not diminished ..
Causes of inflation in year
2010
1-Food inflation:- Basically prices of all
commodities saw a jump in year 2010.Beit milk, fruits and vegetables or even eggs,
food inflation hovered in and around
20%.
Everyone is facing the brunt of rising
prices. Food prices are soaring . . . all
essential items like vegetables, oil, milk,
sugar are getting costlier . Rentals and
real estate rates have almost doubled in
just a few months in most cities. The real
estate prices are at record highs makinglife miserable, especially for people who
have migrated to cities for jobs.
Economists attribute inflation to a
demand-pull theory . According to this, if
there is a huge demand
for products in all sectors, it results in a
shortage of goods. Thus
prices of commodities
shoot up. Another reason for
inflation is the cost-push
theory . It says that labor
groups also trigger
inflation. When wages
for laborers are
increased, producers
raise the prices of
products to make up for
salary hike.
The rising prices of food
products, manufacturingproducts, and essential
commodities have
pushed inflation rate
further in India.
2. Fuel prices: - Fuel
almost every week in the
previous year has gone
up by `1 per litre. The
current price is evenaround 50 ` per litre,
making the situation
worsened for people to
afford traveling by their
own cars.
3. Large monetary
expansion, fiscal
\dominance.
4. H oarding and black marketing practices of
public.
5 . H igher interest rates
charged by bank on
loans
Now
the
quest
ion
arises,
what
has
RBI
and
the
gover
nmen
t
beendoing
?
RBI
steps:
- RBI
has
incre
ased
repo-
ratesand
revers
e-
repo
rates
almost 6
times
by 25
basispoints
to
contr
ol
inflati
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 8/20
on. The signals are intended to spur
banks to raise lending rates and toreduce the amount of credit disbursed .
The RBIs measures are expected to suck
out a substantial sum from the banks. In
effect, while the economy is booming and the credit needs grow, the central bank is
tightening the availability of credit .
Government steps: - Three committees
were formed:-
y To look at ways to increase
agricultural production.
y To look at the gap between farm
and retail prices.
y
Public distribution system.
Out of which the most popular is thepublic distribution system which operates
on the assumption that there are certain
commodities for which the price is
lowered up to a certain quantity which
recently was practiced during the hike in
price of onions.
BROAD HISTORICAL
CONTEXT As you well know, the predominant policy
concern in the Indian economy as
recently as one year ago was thesignificant slowdown in growth in the
wake of the financial crisis in the
advanced economies. As Graph 1 shows,
the inflation rate, which was briefly
negative in the middle of 2009, began to
accelerate rapidly later in the year . This
upward momentum continued into the
first half of 2010, with double-digit
inflation persisting for a few months
The rapidity of the
transition wassurprising, given the fact
that the recovery in
growth was just getting
under way and,importantly, the global
situation was still very
uncertain. H owever,
as Graphs 2 and 3
indicate, the reason for
the sharp increase was
that all the possible
drivers of inflation were
simultaneously
contributing.
Each oneby itself may not have
resulted in the outcomethat we saw, but all
three working together
resulted in a rather
sharp acceleration.
Graph 2 displays the
pattern of supply-side
pressures, as manifested
in the food and fuel
components of theWholesale Price Index .
Food prices rose sharply
because the monsoon of
2009 was deficient in
most parts of the
country, impactingagricultural production.
Fuel prices also rose as
the prospects of a global
recovery improved and,particularly, the
Emerging Market
Economies actually saw
a sharp acceleration in
growth.
Mone
tary
polic
y
responses
The
final
point
on
the
current
scena
rio iswith
refere
nce to
mone
tary
policy
respo
nses.
Graph
4 shows
displa
ys themove
ment
of the
overn
ight
call
mone
y
rate,
which
reflec
ts the
combi
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 9/20
ned actions taken by the Reserve Bank on
policy rates and liquidity . To place therecent policy actions in perspective, we
must remember that the response to the
crisis involved an enormous reduction in
both policy rates and the cash reserveratio in late 2008 and early 2009. Along
with this, a number of ad hoc measures
were also taken. As the crisis abated, even
if inflationary pressures had not
manifested as they did, the need to exit
from the crisis management stance would
have motivated some actions on rates
and liquidity of course, at a pace that
would not derail the still incipient
recovery .
This process began in October 2009, with
the withdrawal of most of the ad hoc
measures, but gained momentum in
January 2010, with an increase in the
cash reserve ratio and, further, in March2010 with the first of a series of rate
hikes. The pace and sequencing of actions
was, as we articulated in our various
assessments, determined by the need to
balance a number of potentially conflicting factors. First, we needed to
address the rapidly mounting demand-
side inflationary pressures while ensuringthat the recovery was not cut short by a
surge in interest rates. Second, while the
domestic economy was doing well, the
global environment remained uncertain,
with a number of new stress points
emerging periodically .
Third, apart from everything else, it was
imperative that we normalize the
monetary policy stance from where it had
moved during the crisis management
phase. Not doing so would have put us in
the situation of being
unable to respond toanother negative shock,
were it to materialize.
In sum, our policy
actions over the past several months were
motivated by the twin
objectives of sustaining
the recovery while
reining in inflation and
normalizing the policy
stance as quickly as
possible. In our mid-
quarter assessment last
month, we indicated that the normalizationprocess is now close to
being complete and that
further actions on rates
and liquidity will be
driven more significantly
by what the growth and
inflation numbers tell us,
both domestically and
globally .
We would like to
conclude by emphasizing
the point that thecurrent episode of
inflation posed a
significant challenge to
policymakers by virtue
of its timing. Monetary
policy responses had to
be calibrated to theneeds of dealing with
inflation while
sustaining a growth
recovery in a still
uncertain global
envir onme
nt .
The
choic
es onthe
magn
itude,
seque
ncing
and
timin
g of
actio
nsweredrive
n by
the
need
to
find a
balan
ce
betwe
enthese
factor
s.
LO
NG
TE
RM
PR
OSP
ECT
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 10/20
IVES
Let me now take a longer term view of
the growth-inflation balance in the
Indian economy . To begin with, we do
have a fairly explicit statement of what
we see as a desirable rate of inflation,
consistent with the economy growing at
its potential rate on a sustained basis. Our policy reviews say that we would
like inflation to be in the 4-4.5 per cent
range in the medium-term, while
aspiring for a 3 per cent rate in the
long term. This might sound a little
unrealistic in the current scenario, but
in order to both justify the aspirationitself as well as assess its realism we
need to look at the historical record of
inflation management in the Indian
economy.
Growth-inflation balance shift
in the Indian economy
Graph 5 provides a very revealing picture
of how the growth-inflation balance hasshifted in the Indian economy . The first
graph, relating decadal averages of growth and inflation over the past
several decades clearly indicates that a
steady upward movement in the growth
rate has been accompanied by a steady
downward movement in the inflation
rate. The contrast is even more striking
when we remove the agricultural sector,
which is the slowest growing among the
three Agriculture, Industry and Services over long periods of time, from the
growth calculations. These patterns
clearly suggest that there is no long-term
trade-off between growth and inflation; if
anything, accelerating
growth is accompanied by decelerating inflation.
This may appear to be
an obvious conclusion. The textbook treatment
of the growth inflation
trade-off sees it as an
essentially short-run
phenomenon, with the
quantum of resources
and capacity in the
economy being fixed . H owever, the reason I specifically mention this
point is that in the wake
of recent assessments
that the Indian economy
is poised to significantly
increase its growth rate
many people have asked me whether this will be
accompanied by an
inflationary surge. My
answer to this is
precisely with referenceto the distinction
between the short-run
and the long-run
relationship betweengrowth and inflation. In
the short-run, with
capacities fixed, a surge
in growth can cause the
economy to overheat,
thus stoking inflationary pressures. This is the
bread-and-butter issue
of monetary policy, the
effectiveness of which
must be judged by its
abilit
y tokeep
the
econo
my growi
ng at
a rate
just
short
of
overh
eatin
g,
thereby keepi
ng
inflati
on in
check .
In the
long
run,
capacities
are
not fixed .
Accel
eratio
n in
growt
h
over long
perio
ds of
time
occur
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 11/20
s in part because investment activity,
which itself contributes to growth, leadsto an increase in capacity . This pushes up
the potential growth rate of the economy,
i.e., the rate at which it can grow without
causing overheating. Looking back over the growth performance of the Indian
economy, it is quite evident that the
acceleration of growth from the 5-6 per
cent range to the 8-9 per cent range was
accomplished by a massive increase in
investment . The Investment-GDP ratio
rose quite sharply over the decades. Even
the relatively high number of 30.5 per
cent during the last decade masks the
sharp surge in this ratio towards themiddle of the decade, which saw it rise
above 35 per cent . At that rate of investment, the capacity of the economy
to increase output is growing quite
rapidly and its ability to meet the
requirements of a growing and
increasingly affluent population is clearly
expanding.
Secret to accelerating
growth
In short, the secret to accelerating
growth while still being able to keep
inflation in check over long periods of
time is in the speed and efficiency of thesupply response. As long as the growth in
supply keeps pace or even exceeds the
growth in demand, inflationary pressures
do not sustain. Supply can be expanded
by enhancing domestic capacity, whichthe Indian economy has clearly done, or
by tapping into global sources, which thesignificant liberalization in trade policy,
particularly since the early 1990s, also
enabled .
H owever, while this
combination of domesticand global supply
responses has helped to
steadily bring the
inflation rate down, theIndian economy has
always been vulnerable
to inflation shocks,
which have caused
uncomfortable spurts in
prices across the
board . Some major
shocks to the system, all
of which required strong
policy responses.
As isevident from the graph,the vulnerability of the
Indian economy to
supply shocks on the
food and energy fronts is
persistent . There have
also been periods in
which a significant fiscal
expansion accompanied
by an accommodating
monetary stance i.e.,demand-side pressures
raised the inflation rate
significantly . Sharp
depreciation of the
rupee in the midst of an
oil shock has also played a role on one occasion.
While the demand
driven inflation shocks
can be avoided by prudent monetary and
fiscal policies, the
vulnerability to supply
shocks in the form of a
failed monsoon or a
surge
in oil prices
will
obvio
usly remai
n.
Energ
y
beca
me a
signifi
cant factor
durin
g the
1970s
,
follow
ingthe
first
oil
shock
of 1973.
It has
persisted in
its
contri
butio
n
since
then. Addin
g up
the
two
provi
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 12/20
des the overall contribution of supply-side
factors, which, as the graph suggests,have persisted in one form or another
through the entire period . Looking ahead,
it would be reasonable to argue that
these pressures are likely to persist, as aresult of both global and domestic
imbalances between demand and supply .
On the energy front, one of the
fundamental drivers of high oil prices is
increasing demand in Emerging Market
Economies, whose rising affluence is
resulting in very rapid growth of energy-
intensive activities. As relatively low-cost reserves of fossil fuels are exhausted,
rising global demand is being met by
exploiting higher cost sources. The cost
differential between petroleum and
alternative sources makes such sources
viable even at their relatively high costs.
Steadily rising costs of production, inturn, exert inflationary pressures on the
global economy, which hits those
economies hardest whose energy
intensity is increasing most rapidly . In
recent years, the prices of petroleum, aswell as other commodities, are perceived
to have been further impacted by their
emergence as an attractive asset class. H owever, as significant as the
contribution of this factor may have been
to price increases, the underlying
fundamentals are what will continue to
drive prices in the coming years.
As regards food, the pressures in theIndian economy are predominantly
domestic. Our Green Revolution in the
1960s raised the production of cereals
dramatically, which increased
availability and stabilized prices.
H owever, what we are
seeing today is theimpact of increasing
affluence on the demand
for a variety of food
items that go far beyond cereals. As people
become more affluent,
their diets diversify . Just
as the growing Indian
consuming class has
stimulated a boom in the
demand for consumer
durables, vehicles and
mobile phones, to give
but a few examples, it has also manifested anenormous increase in the
demand for various food
items beyond cereals.
Demand for protein
sources pulses, milk,
meat, fish and eggs has
surged as has the
appetite for sugar, fruits
and vegetables.
In the case of consumer
durables, vehicles and
mobile phones, theexpansion in capacity
was enormous and
rapid, resulting in the
demand being met
without prices
increasing. In fact,
economies of scale and technological
advancements actually
helped to bring down the
prices of many products
even as volumes were
increasing.
The
globa
lizati
on of the
suppl
y
chain
also
contri
buted
signifi
cantly
, asglobal
capac
ities
were
broug
ht
into
play
to
meet the
rising
dema
nd .
Thiscombi
natio
n of
forces
hascertai
nly
not
beenin
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 13/20
play in meeting the rising domestic
demand for the food items mentioned above. Supply is predominantly domestic
and, for the most part, is unable to
respond effectively to the expansion in
demand . The inevitable consequence of this is an increase in prices. This is a
significant structural driver of inflation in
the Indian economy . A good monsoon
may provide some relief, while a bad one
will aggravate the pressures, but the
enduring solution to this problem lies in a
rapid and sustained increase in the
supply of these items.
Graph 6 also displays the positive
impacts of effective supply response. The
contribution of manufactured goods to
inflationary pressures has declined
significantly over the decades. This
decline can be attributed to increasing
effectiveness of policy reforms inincreasing domestic capacities and
competition and integrating domestic
markets with the global supply chain.
Now let us look at inflation dynamicsfrom the macroeconomic policy perspective, i.e., monetary and fiscal
actions that may have contributed to the
rise and fall of the inflation rate. During
the 1970s and 1980s, the monetization of
the fiscal deficit, and the growth in net
RBI Credit to Government, was clearly acontributor to inflationary pressures in
the economy . Government spending
boosts demand and if the government faces no effective financial constraints, it
can increase spending without limit and,
certainly beyond the capacity of a
relatively closed economy to meet the
demand .
The emergence of an
effective constraint onmonetization of the
fiscal deficit during the
1990s helped to rein this
source of inflationary pressure in. Now, if the
Government wants to
increase its spending, it
has to raise resources
from the market,
bringing in some
realistic cost-benefit
calculations, including
the fact that the cost of
funds for the privatesector will also increase. Against this backdrop,
the Governments
commitment to fiscal
prudence in the form of
fiscal responsibility
legislation is an
important contribution
to maintain the growth-
inflation balance.
It is also striking in
Graph 7 that, contrary
to popular notions about the link between the
growth in money and
the inflation rate, the
rate of growth of money
remained constant even
as inflation declined . The
reason for this was that the expansion in money
was absorbed by the
growing volume of
transactions that
involved money
excha
nge. This
absor
ption
mitigated
the
poten
tially
inflati
onary
impac
t of
mone
y growt h.
One
impor
tant
consi
derati
on in
inflati
onmana
geme
nt isthe
stabil
ity of
the
inflati
on
rate. Forw
ard-
looki
ng
trans
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 14/20
actions build in some expectations about
inflation rates over the tenure of thecontract . Significant deviations of actual
outcomes from expected ones can cause
huge losses to one of the transacting
parties, thereby acting as a deterrent towhat may be growth-enhancing
transactions. The more stable the
inflation rate, the less these deviations
will be. There appears to be an almost
universal correlation between the level of
the inflation rate and its stability . The
reduction in the average inflation rate
over the years has been accompanied by
a sharp reduction in the volatility of that
rate.
The aspiration of a low and stable inflation rate is a realistic one.
Finally, let u make a few comments on the
role of monetary policy in this transition
from a relatively high-inflation economy
to a relatively low-inflation one. Conventional monetary policy began to
apply only during the 1990s, with the
freeing up of restrictions and mandatory
allocations of credit to various sectors.
Genuine markets for both products and credit emerged after the reforms of the
early 1990s. As Graph 13 shows, the
persistent inflationary conditions during
the 1990s were responded to by significant monetary actions in terms of
both rates and liquidity management . As
the inflation rate trended lower, a
process to which the monetary policy
actions of the period contributed, the
policy stance in turn changed toaccommodate the new circumstances. In
other words, monetary policy has been
aimed at keeping inflation under control,
which involves tightening when inflation
exceeds the comfort level
and loosening when it falls below .
CONCLUSION
The current inflation
scenario is a cause of
concern, as the inflation
rate persists well above
the upper bound of the
comfort zone. The fact
that these inflationary pressures emerged
rather quickly in a
situation in which theeconomy was just
beginning to recover
from the significant slowdown of 2008-09
made the policy
challenge more
complicated . The
monetary policy
response to these
pressures has been a
calibrated one, seeking a
balance betweensustaining the recovery
and reining in inflation,
while being mindful of
the risks that still
remain in the global
environment . Recent
data suggest that theapproach is working,
with the economy set togrow at a reasonably
healthy rate during the
current year and the
inflation rate beginning
to decline, including,
signifi
cantly , in
the
manu
factur ing
sector
,
wher
e
inflati
on is
seen
as
beingmost respo
nsive
to
mone
tary
actio
ns.
This
approach
must
beviewe
d in
the
conte
xt of a
long-
stand ing
policy
comm
itmen
t to
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 15/20
maintain a balance between growth and
inflation in the short run, while fosteringfaster growth with lower inflation over
long periods of time. The growth pattern
of the Indian economy over the past six
decades clearly shows that acceleratinggrowth has been accompanied by
declining inflation. This is primarily
because growth has been driven by
expanding capacities across the board as
well as, in recent years, by increasing
global linkages. Both these factors have
helped to achieve a strong supply
response to growing demand, thus
keeping inflation in check .
This is not to say that the Indian economy
is now invulnerable to inflation shocks.
Food and energy price shocks have been a
regular part of the economic landscape
and may continue to be so in the future.
Food prices, in particular, are now beingdriven by some structural imbalances
between demand and supply, as
increasingly affluent consumers diversify
their dietary patterns away from cereals
and towards protein sources. This callsfor an effort to quickly increase the
availability of these items, on which is
contingent the longer term outlook for food price inflation.
H owever, over the years, both fiscal and
monetary policy approaches have clearly assimilated the lessons of the past and
have moved in a direction which helps
contain inflationary pressures even asgrowth remains robust . Making inflation
low and stable was the outcome of a
combination of long-term and short-term
policies over the past decades. Keeping it
there remains the objective, while an
appropriate
combination of long-term and short-term
policies will provide the
instrument to achieve it .
SUGGESTIONS
There are several steps
to effectively control
inflation before it gets
out of hand . Given that
inflation shows theimbalance between
supply and demand of
goods at current pricesso that measures are
taken to reduce demand
or increase supply of
goods and services. The
following are some
important steps one cantake into demand and
supply .
The supply side9.
Increased Production.
The supply of goods and services can be increased
by increasing
agricultural and
industrial production.
Agricultural production
can be increased by
providing an adequate
supply of agricultural
inputs at low prices, themodernization of
agriculture and
scientific farm
management, adequate
water supply for
irriga
tion;indus
trial
produ
ctionetc
simila
rly
can
be
incre
ased
by
incre
ased foreign
direct
invest
ment,
indus
trial
credit
growt
h,
fiscal conce
ssions
, etc.
2.
Contr ol of
illega
l
activities.
There
are
some
illega
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 16/20
l activities that cause significant inflation
in a country . It is hoarding, smuggling,profiteering, black markets, etc. In the
case of smuggling of large quantities of
staples like sugar, butter, wheat, rice, etc
are exported abroad illegally in order toobtain higher prices. Similarly, the
shortage in most cases artificial staples
to create higher profits. All activities of
this evil must be controlled through
advertising, as well as punishment .
3. Peace and Security
Production and distribution of goods and
services can be effected due to theexistence of unease and insecurity insociety . In such circumstances, investors
hesitant to invest for fear of potential
loss. Similarly, the production of
industrial products is affected due to
several unpleasant events such as strikes
etc or therefore peace and security must
be ensured to maintain the supply of
goods and avoid the danger of famine.
4. Main Energy SourcesThe supply of agricultural and industrial
products is highly dependent on energy
availability . If the energy source is
expensive, the cost of production of goods
and services will be expensive too.
Increased production costs raise pricesand cause inflation. Therefore all
necessary measures must be taken to
ensure major sources of energy in
industrial and agricultural sectors of theeconomy .
5 . Control of Money Supply
The money supply has a great influence
on the rising inflation that is, inflation
with increasing the
money supply and viceversa. Therefore, to
control inflation,
measures must be taken
to control the money supply . The money
supply can be controlled
with the help of
monetary policy in
which the central bank
uses various methods,
such as bank rate policy,
open market operations,
changes in reserve
requirements, credit rationing, direct actionetc. All these methods
are useful to control the
rate of inflation in a
country .
6. There is no Deficit
Financing
Deficit financing shows
that public spending
beyond their income. The purpose of deficit
financing is to meet the
additional costs that the
budget deficit . Because
the money supply
increases in the country and causes inflation.
Therefore the deficit
financing should be
discouraged and all development costs must
be met through taxes
and debt .
7 . Population Control
Indevel
oping
count
ries,
thepopul
ation
is
incre
asing
very
quickl
y that
the
productionof
goods
and
servic
es
does
not
incre
ase at
thesame
pace.
Becau
se the
imbal
ancebetwe
en
suppl
y and dema
nd of
goods
and servic
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 17/20
es are produced and cause inflation.
Therefore, to control inflation,appropriate measures should be taken to
control the population.
8. Fiscal Policy Fiscal policy refers to government policy
of public spending and taxes. The main
fiscal policy objective is to maintain only
the slight change in the general price
level . During inflation, the government
tries to reduce its expenditure on
unproductive activities and the direct tax
rate increases so that the purchasing
power of the population is reduced . Due
to the reduction in the purchase of thepopulation, demand for goods and
services will be reduced and controlled inflation.
9. Direct Measures
There are several other options available
to the government to control inflation
and wage and price freeze, the rationing
of goods, establishment of public service
shops, the price review committees,
boards of price stabilization, etc.
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 18/20
REFERENCES
http://www.rbi.org.in/ www.planningcommission.nic.in/
Economic times. Business today.
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 19/20
- Per cent
2 0 2 4 6
Apr-05
Aug-05
Dec-05
Ne w
Apr-06
Aug-06 s e
r i e s
Dec-06
Apr-07
Aug-07
Dec-07
Apr-08
Aug-08 O
l d Dec-08
S e r i e s
Apr-09
Aug-09
Dec-09
Apr-10
Aug-10
8
1 0
1 2
1 4
Al l C ommod i t i e
s
1 : Recent I nf l at i onDyn
ami cs
8/7/2019 Finall_BL_project (Recovered)
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/finallblproject-recovered 20/20
20