Parliament Question: Rate of Inflation

ORIGINAL IN HINDI Government of India Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Department of Consumer Affairs LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3938 (OIH) TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.08.2026 RATE OF INFLATION 3938. SHRI SANJAY HARIBHAU JADHAV: (OIH) Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government is aware of the continuous increase in the rate of inflation in the country and if so, the details thereof; (b) the percentage of increase in the retail prices of pulses, rice, wheat/wheat flour, milk, edible oils and other essential food commodities during each of the last two years, year-wise; (c) the policy and administrative steps taken by the Government so far to contain inflation; (d) whether the Government is of the view that the rising inflation has had the greatest adverse impact on poor, low-income and middle-income households and if so, the Government's assessment in this regard; and (e) the details of the existing and proposed schemes of the Government to control the prices of essential food commodities such as pulses, rice, wheat/wheat flour, milk and edible oils and to provide relief to consumers? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI B.L.VERMA) (a) : Department of Consumer Affairs monitors the daily prices of 41 essential food commodities submitted by the 579 price monitoring centres across the country. Retail prices of essential food items like cereals, pulses, potato etc. are largely stable in comparison to the prices last year. As per the data published by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, retail inflation measured by year-on-year variation in Consumer Price Index (CPI) for June, 2026 was 4.38%. (b) : All-India average retail prices of pulses, rice, wheat, atta (wheat), milk, edible oils and other essential commodities like potato, onion and tomato for last two years, year-wise and percentage variations are given at Annexure. (c) to (e) : Government keeps a close watch on the production and availability of essential commodities through regular reviews by the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC). The Committee reviews, on regular basis, the scenario and the indicative trends in prices of essential agri-horticultural commodities and suggests measures to enhance availability through increased domestic production and rationalisation in export-import policies.Government set up Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) to tackle extreme volatility in the prices of agri horticultural commodities to protect the consumers. Under PSF, buffer stock of pulses and onion are maintained to ensure the availability of these essential food commodities to consumers at affordable prices. Regulated release of pulses from the buffer to augment the availability helps in cooling down the market price. Market interventions through buffer stock also helps in nudging the market players lower their prices. Further, buffer stock of pulses with the government acts as deterrent against manipulative hoarding and unscrupulous speculations by market players. In case of onion, the buffer stock plays critical role in controlling the seasonal fluctuation in prices. The period between Rabi and Kharif onion harvests is associated with rise in prices due to the depletion in stored Rabi onions. Onions from the government buffer are released during this lean season in regulated and targeted manner to augment the market availability and stabilise the prices. In order to make atta and rice available to consumers at affordable prices, Bharat Atta and Bharat Rice is sold to general public by central cooperative organizations namely National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Limited (NCCF) and Kendriya Bhandar. Wheat and rice allocated to these three central cooperative organizations for sale as Bharat Atta and Bharat Rice across the country through their own stores/ mobile vans and / or E- commerce/ big chain retailers. To strengthen and modernize the dairy sector, Government implements National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) and Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) for quality testing, primary milk procurement, chilling facilities and dairying through cooperatives. These initiatives aimed at improving production, better price realisation by producers and make quality milk products available to consumers at affordable prices. *****ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED IN REPLY TO PART (b) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3938 FOR 12.08.2026 REGARDING RATE OF INFLATION. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All-India Average Retail prices of Cereals, Pulses, Edible oils, Vegetables and Milk during the last two years. Commodity Unit Retail Price Retail Price Retail Price Percentage Percentage as on today 1 year ago 2 years ago variation variation (29.07.2026) (29.09.2025) (29-07-2024) over last 1 over last 2 (in Rupees) (in Rupees) (in Rupees) year (in %) years (in %) Gram Dal 1 Kg 86.31 86.93 88.64 -0.71% -2.63% Tur/Arhar Dal 1 Kg 123.37 119.50 167.63 3.24% -26.40% Urad Dal 1 Kg 121.29 114.94 126.49 5.52% -4.11% Moong Dal 1 Kg 111.77 110.73 117.48 0.94% -4.86% Masoor Dal 1 Kg 90.35 88.76 91.85 1.79% -1.63% Rice 1 Kg 44.90 42.90 43.75 4.66% 2.63% Wheat 1 Kg 31.37 31.42 31.06 -0.16% 1.00% Atta (Wheat) 1 Kg 37.25 36.79 35.80 1.25% 4.05% Milk 1 Ltr 60.87 59.11 59.21 2.98% 2.80% Groundnut Oil 1 Kg 206.00 188.91 186.84 9.05% 10.25% (Packed) Mustard Oil 1 Kg 196.67 183.84 140.78 6.98% 39.70% (Packed) Vanaspati 1 Kg 165.57 156.70 124.76 5.66% 32.71% (Packed) Soya Oil 1 Kg 164.25 146.79 121.78 11.89% 34.87% (Packed) Sunflower Oil 1 Kg 189.37 160.51 121.29 17.98% 56.13% (Packed) Palm Oil 1 Kg 148.25 130.25 99.31 13.82% 49.28% (Packed) Potato 1 Kg 22.72 25.81 37.78 -11.97% -39.86% Onion 1 Kg 35.07 28.24 43.80 24.19% -19.93% Tomato 1 Kg 39.39 46.58 64.77 -15.44% -39.18% *****