FM Sitharaman says Indian economy is strong, govt can tame inflation

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the government has adopted a targeted approach, based on ground-level inputs, to tackle retail inflation which is ruling at around 7 per cent.

The minister was replying to a short-duration debate on price rise in the Rajya Sabha.

Sitharaman stressed that the fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong.

The Indian economy compared to the situation prevailing in peer-group nations and even developed countries is definitely "much better", she said.

However, the minister also acknowledged that global factors are impacting the economy, and said "these are realities".

The finance minister said that both the government and the Reserve Bank are taking steps to bring down inflation below 7 per cent and further under 6 per cent.

The government has tasked the RBI to ensure that the consumer price index (CPI) based inflation remains at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side.

Sitharaman also countered opposition charges that the central government was only working for Ambanis and Adanis, and not the poor.

Such arguments, she said, only politicise an important debate like the one on price rise.