Govt will continue taking measures to ensure inflation doesn't hurt citizens: Sitharaman

New Delhi, Feb 13 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government will continue to take measures to check inflation and ensure that citizens are not burdened.

Replying to the discussion on the Union Budget in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said the retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) reduced to 4.31 per cent in January from 5.22 per cent in December and is moving towards the 4 per cent target given to the Reserve Bank of India.

The House witnessed several instances of altercations between the Opposition and the treasury benches over issues like Budget allocations to Telangana, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. Several Opposition parties staged walkout from the House during the minister's reply, even though Sitharaman stressed that the Modi government has never discriminated against any state.

On Budget proposals, she said they seek to "accelerate growth, secure inclusive development, and invigorate private sector investments", and there has been no decrease in capital expenditure for the next fiscal year.

Sitharaman told the House that the Budget was prepared during a challenging time, with serious external challenges beyond estimates or forecasts and there has been reduction in sectoral allocations.

Despite this, the government has tried to keep the assessment as accurate as possible, keeping India's interests paramount, she said.

"There are no models that you can build and understand how the trends will be because they are very dynamic... Despite that, we have tried keeping the assessments as close as possible, keeping India's interests as topmost... This immense uncertainty is still playing out and many Indian imports which are very critical for our economy to grow are also going to be left with uncertainty," she said.

On inflation, she said data showed steep correction in prices of tomato, onion and potato prices, and even pulses.

"So food inflation, which gets triggered when you have an adverse weather condition, and supply chain disruptions are being managed by a group of ministers who are ensuring that timely import happens if there is a shortfall in supply," the minister said.

The Reserve Bank of India is keeping a watch on volatility in the Indian rupee, she said.

She listed out the steps proposed in the Budget to boost agricultural production in the country.

"So it is clear that government's attempt to remove the stress of price rise is actually being received in the ground. The efforts will continue. We shall make sure that price should not be a burden on the ordinary citizens," Sitharaman said.

The minister, who presented her record eighth Budget in a row, also said the Modi government's Budget numbers are always realistic and neither conservative nor overestimated.

Sitharaman told the House that the first advance estimates from National Statistics Office (NSO) has projected India's economy will grow 6.4 per cent in real terms and 9.7 per cent in nominal terms.

So for the Budget, "we have kept our goals" such that we are able to accelerate growth, secure inclusive development, invigorate private sector investments, she said.

The minister also highlighted that the government steered the economy very well during the Covid crisis, and the country emerged as the 5th largest major economy in the world.

She also recalled that after the global financial crisis of 2008, India was termed as among the "fragile five" economies.

The minister also rebutted opposition parties' assertions that income tax incentives would only benefit rich people.

She said income tax liability of the middle will significantly come down.

The House was adjourned for a recess and will meet again on March 10 to continue the Budget session. PTI PRS NKD MJH CS TRB

Source: PTI