India trade minister says central bank should cut rates, look through food prices
Live MintMUMBAI, Nov 14 - India's central bank should cut interest rates to boost economic growth and look through food price while deciding on monetary policy, the trade minister said, the first time a government minister has backed calls to re-examine the nation's inflation targeting framework. Growth needs a further impetus," Piyush Goyal told news channel CNBC TV18 at an event in Mumbai on Thursday, adding it's an "absolutely flawed theory" to consider food inflation while deciding on rates. India's monetary policy framework should consider targeting inflation that excludes food, the prices of which are influenced more by supply than demand, the government's 2023/24 economic survey had said in July. India's retail inflation surged to a 14-month high in October, driven largely by a jump in vegetable prices and has dashed hopes of an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India next month.