Taming food inflation in India
This discussion paper series by Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) is an attempt to encourage unbiased discussion on critical issues affecting agricultural sector and food security. Food inflation in India has been a major challenge to policy makers, more so during recent years when it has averaged 10 percent during 2008-09 to December 2012. Given that an average household in India still spends almost half of its expenditure on food, and poor around 60 percent, and that poor cannot easily hedge against inflation, high food inflation inflicts a strong ‘hidden tax’ on the poor.