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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the government is keeping an eye on inflation which is purely "extraneous" nowadays because of fuel and fertiliser prices. Replying to the debat on the Supplementary Demands for Grants in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said wholesale inflation has fallen to a 21-month low. Later, the Rajya Sabha returned the Supplementary Demands for Grants to the Lok Sabha, thus completing the process of authorising the government to spend an additional Rs 3.25 lakh crore in FY2022-23. Retail inflation based on consumer price index which remained above the Reserve Bank's tolerance level of 6 per cent since January this year has declined to 5.88 per cent in November. The minister also said private investment capex is taking place in India because of favourable policies like PLI and cited few examples. Sitharaman also stressed that the supplementary demand for grants is essentially for food security, fertiliser requirements and providing support
Fodder prices have increased by 28 pc in November compared to the same month last year, the government said on Tuesday. "Wholesale price index (WPI) data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, showed that the index value for fodder has recorded at 225.7 in November 2022, registering an increase of 27.66 per cent over the same month last year (176.8)," Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Parshottam Rupala said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. "As such, no severe hardships to rural families whose livelihood are dependent on livestock have been reported by the States, although there is increase in the price of fodder," he added. The minister informed that the ICAR- Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute (IGFRI), Jhansi has estimated that there is deficit of 11.24 per cent, 23.4 per cent and 28.9 per cent in green fodder, dry fodder and concentrates, respectively, at the national level. "The state governments are primarily responsible for assessing th