Nirmala Sitharaman (PTI photo) NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday drew comfort from moderating inflation, while asserting that govt was keeping a close watch on the price situation and said the Centre and RBI are maintaining a vigil.”Over-valued currencies erode national competitiveness. I would like to allay concerns on rupee fluctuation. RBI has taken several steps to stabilise the rupee. RBI is keeping a constant watch on volatility of the Indian rupee,” the minister said in Rajya Sabha, while pointing out that most global currencies had depreciated against the US dollar during Oct-Dec quarter, given the global uncertainty.Replying to the discussion on the Budget, FM said the steps taken by govt were helping cool down prices. “So food inflation, which gets triggered when you have an adverse weather condition, and supply chain disruptions are being managed by a group of ministers, who are ensuring that timely import happens if there is a shortfall in supply.”Sitharaman also defended her Budget calculations, arguing that the tax numbers were realistic and dished out figures to argue that that there had been no dilution in the focus on capital expenditure.With some MPs including former FM P Chidambaram questioning the direct tax growth projection, Sitharaman said: “It is not a mistake. In the last five years, our budget estimates have been commented upon by many observers – our is not a conservative estimate but realistic. Even this time, the number is realistic.” The minister said she has budgeted for a buoyancy (the change in a ratio of change in tax revenue to change in GDP) of 1.3 for 2025-26, which is lower than average of 1.7 during the last five years and 1.9 during the last three years.She said the budget had been presented amid global economic uncertainty, making projections tough. “There are no models that you can build and understand how the trends will be because they are very dynamic… Despite that, we have tried keeping the assessments as close as possible, keeping India’s interests as topmost… This immense uncertainty is still playing out and many Indian imports, which are very critical for our economy to grow, are also going to be left with uncertainty,” she said.FM also dismissed Opposition charge of ignoring states, saying the fears were unfounded and listed out several projects that govt had announced in non-BJP states.
Govt keeping a close watch on prices & rupee, says FM Sitharaman
