Vegetable prices may start easing by January: Montek

New Delhi, Nov 8 : Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia Sunday said he expected vegetable prices to ease by January.

"At the end of a bad monsoon, the big pressure is on vegetables. I hope the pressure will come down by the end of this fiscal year," Ahluwalia said at the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit here.

"By December-January, you will see at least something (fall in prices) for vegetables, there will be a different position," Ahluwalia added.

"It (vegetable) is not something you can import, but in general, certainly in management of public distribution system, we are in a strong position as far as stocks are concerned," he contended.

"There is more than enough food stock in the country. We do not have to worry on that score."

The annual inflation rate for food articles was sharply higher at 13.39 percent for the week under review. Similarly, the annual rise in the index for pulses was 23.44 percent and that for cereals was 11.15 percent. The meat, eggs and poultry index rose 25 percent.

The Reserve Bank of India and the government have both warned that India's annual rate of inflation based on wholesale price index for all commodities would rise to 6-6.5 percent by March, while the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council has pegged it at 6 percent.

--IANS