Finance Minister: No fear of stagflation, govt on track to meet fiscal deficit target

New Delhi, December 14

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday assured the Lok Sabha that the government would take measures to further ease inflation, which has dipped below the RBI’s upper tolerance level of 6 per cent.

The government is constantly watching the price situation of essential commodities and there is no fear of stagflation as India is one of the fastest-growing economies with low inflation levels, said Sitharaman.

Retail inflation has moderated to an 11-month low of 5.8 per cent in November from 6.77 per cent in the previous month.

“We will bring it down further for the sake of common people,” she said.

Later, the House passed demands for supplementary grants, authorising the government to spend additional Rs 3.25 lakh crore in 2022-23.

With regard to fiscal deficit, the Finance Minister said the government would be able to meet the fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent of the GDP for the current financial year. The government is committed to the path of fiscal consolidation, she said.

On non-performing assets of banks, Sitharaman claimed it had come down drastically to 7.28 per cent at the end of March due to various measures taken by the Narendra Modi government.

On the declining value of rupee against the US dollar, she said the rupee was appreciating against all other currencies and the fall against the dollar was lower as compared to other currencies.

She quoted the World Bank report to say “India’s foreign exchange reserves is one of the highest in the world and this provide a cushion against global spillover”. During the discussion, MPs had raised a point that the forex was dipping rapidly.

20 N-plants by 2031

India plans to commission 20 nuclear power plants by 2031, Minister of State for Atomic Energy Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Last week, he had said the government plans to set up 10 more nuclear power plants based on indigenous technology. These will be in addition to the 10 reactors already under construction.