Inflation worries

Apropos ‘At 7.79%, retail inflation surges to 8-year high in April’ (May13), one wonders about its future trajectory. As the report has clearly pointed out, pricier fuel and edible oils are mainly responsible for the current high rate of inflation. If indeed so, one wonders whether the recent rate hike and those expected in the future will address the problem. The issue is clearly a supply side one while rate hikes seek to squeeze demand. Price increase of crude oil due to the war plus sanctions on Russia, and of edible oils due to supply bottlenecks from Ukraine are unlikely to be tamed by rate hikes.

One hopes that we are not left in a situation of low economic growth (due to high interest rates) while still grappling with high inflation (since supply disruptions continue).

V Vijaykumar

Pune

Food prices pinch

Driven by continued global crude price upsurge which impacts food, fuel and light, and transport and communication prices in the CPI basket, India’s April 2022 CPI inflation turned out to be a 95-month high of 7.79 per cent. This is the fourth month in a row that retail inflation has remained above 6 per cent, which is the upper tolerance threshold for inflation under the monetary policy framework.

Economists said the sharp acceleration in retail inflation explained the central bank’s rush to raise interest rates. Food costs led the surge with inflation measured by the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) jumping to a 17-month high of 8.4 per cent from March’s 7.7 per cent. Food prices rose at a faster clip of 8.5 per cent in rural India. It is expected that the inflation rate will cool in May due to base effects, but it is still likely to hover around 6.5 per cent. Moreover, there has been an uptick in the average prices of some vegetables and fruits. Housewives are finding it difficult to manage their monthly budget and expenses.

CK Subramaniam

Navi Mumbai

Firm price trend to continue

At 7.79 per cent, retail inflation has recorded its highest levels since this government assumed power. The NDA government had reaped the benefit of low fuel prices for its ambitious projects. Now the reality of high prices has begun to bite and it seems to be unable to do anything about it.

Fuel and edible oil prices are largely responsible for this runaway inflation. The factors that contributed to it are not going anywhere soon. Those who were quoting stock market indices as signs of a healthy economy must think again.

Anthony Henriques

Mumbai

IP rights

This refers to the article ‘Protecting intellectual property in Metaverse’ (May 13). Linked to brand enforcement, the onset of the metaverse underlines the importance of considering IP rights holistically. Business models and core products and services offered in the metaverse emphasise the interconnectivity of IP rights like never before. The decentralised nature of the metaverse poses perhaps the greatest challenge to brands and intellectual property owners.

To understand why it helps to consider the legal framework and protocols that have emerged to prevent and remedy infringement on the “traditional” Internet. Today, most websites are hosted on servers maintained by specialised web services providers.

Similarly, social media networks have developed robust policies and processes to police intellectual property infringement. Assuming a brand can convince a network to take action, it is relatively easy for the network to suspend or deactivate the infringing content. Companies should conduct a thorough analysis of the virtual landscape where they hope to market and promote goods and services in order to determine whether they even want to do business in the metaverse.

Intellectual property rights should be strictly enforced to mitigate the legal issues. This can be done by relying on appropriate contract clauses to ensure there is no dispute about the ownership of content. Deploying AI technology to identify violations and theft of digital intellectual property.

P Sundara Pandian

Virudhunagar, TN

Admission to NATO

Russia is waging war against Ukraine on the pretext that it may join NATO thus endangering its sovereignty. Finland and Sweden had no inclination to join the US-led military alliance, but Russia’s misadventure in Ukraine has caused a change of heart and are now yearning to be part of the military club. However, Russia is warning of retaliatory steps in case these countries are admitted to NATO. These developments are a sad commentary for global order and the US, the UK and EU countries are adding fuel to fire by these provocative measures and concurrently giving up hope of ending the war in the foreseeable future . At this juncture it is prudent that concerted attempts are made to broke peace between two warring countries. The chilling effect of war on all the economies of the world is becoming conspicuous by the day and is detrimental to all the world’s nations.

Deepak Singhal

Noida