Inflation a key concern for govt: Indian Finance Minister

New Delhi, July 27 (PTI) Indian Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee on Wednesday cautioned that year-end inflation may
not be less than 6-7 per cent even as the government and the
RBI are making sustained efforts to fight price rise.
"We are fighting against inflation...increase in repo
and reverse repo by the RBI yesterday conveys a strong
signal... (but) we shall have to keep in mind that year-end
inflation may not be less than 6-7 per cent," Mukherjee told
reporters here.
India's central bank Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday
gave a rude shock to the industry, market and borrowers by
increasing sharply, the key interest rate by 50 basis points.
Expressing concern over 9.44 per cent headline inflation
in June, he said, "though food inflation has softened as
compared to 22 per cent in February 2010, "still 8 per cent
food inflation is not acceptable".
While accepting that there are challenges before the
Indian economy arising out of domestic and global factors, the
Finance Minister said, he did not believe in despondency.
"...when going gets tough, tough gets going. I do not
believe in despondency. Difficulties have to be overcome by
ourselves, not by anybody else," a confident Mukherjee said.
While there was some deceleration in industrial
production and slower growth in interest sensitive sectors, he
expressed confidence "that Indian economy would be in a
position to come back".
Referring to the burning issue of black money, the
Finance Minister said the government was committed to tackle
the menace.
"Effort against black money is relentless...both
administrative and legal steps have been taken to fight
against this menace," he said.