Industry & Economy
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Industry Associations
Merchants chamber concern over rising inflation
Our Bureau
Mumbai
,
July 7
THE Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC) has expressed concern over the rising rate of inflation and high fiscal and revenue deficits, pointing out that the firming up of the energy and primary product prices had resulted in the inflation rate crossing the six per cent-mark in January 2004.
"The point-to-point inflation was 5.5 per cent in the first week of June 2004. With the imminent rise in prices of petroleum products in the country and crude prices hovering around the $36 per barrel mark in the international market, it is indeed difficult to rein in the inflation rate," according to the IMC.
The chamber pointed out that the combined fiscal deficit of both the Centre and States, which was declining in early nineties, worsened subsequently to reach a level of 10.1 per cent in 2002-03 — higher than the pre-reform level of 9.4 per cent.
According to Mr. Ashwini Kakkar, President of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce, felt that it was necessary to enhance the efficiency of public investment, administrative decision making processes and procedures. "The enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act by the Central and State Governments and the proposal to implement the Kelkar Committee's recommendations on taxes would contribute significantly to the process of fiscal consolidation and augmentation of tax revenues," he pointed out.
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