By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday said inflation in India would moderate in the coming months even as the country remained among the fastest growing economies in the world.
“There are signs of moderation in the high inflation that we have witnessed recently,” the prime minister said, referring to the dip in the annual inflation rate in recent weeks from 12.63 percent to 12.10 percent.
“We are confident that the situation will improve further in the coming months because of the measures that we have taken,” he told a conference of governors and lieutenant governors here.
“I am aware that for the common man, inflation is a major problem. We are doing our best to control the inflationary trend, and especially to protect the poor from its adverse impacts,” he said.
“The state governments can assist in the control of inflation by keeping a strict watch on the activities of hoarders and unscrupulous traders.”
The prime minister said the past four years of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has seen the Indian economy grow at an unprecedented rate of nine percent, thanks to the creativity and enterprise of the Indian people.
He said in the current fiscal year, however, the global economic slowdown, the steep rise in international prices of petroleum products and other primary commodities had affected the growth prospects.
“But even then, the overall growth rate of the economy will still exceed eight percent, making India the world’s second-fastest growing economy.”
The prime minister said his government recognised the fact that investments needed to be stepped up in infrastructure, mainly in roads, railways, power, irrigation, telecom and civil aviation, adding that measures were accordingly being taken.
He said more needed to be done to improve the capabilities of the Indian people – in their education and skill building, their health and well-being, in the infrastructure of a modern economy and in the future of the youth.
“If the world wishes to work with India, cooperate with India, trust India and invest in India, it is because the world recognizes that the people of India are on the move. But there is much that we have to do.”