Govt giving priority to keep inflation in check:

Govt giving priority to keep inflation in check: Chidambaram





New Delhi, Feb 26 :

Amidst the wholesale-price based inflation touching the six-month high of 4.11 per cent (for the week ended January 26), the government today said it has given high priority to arrest the price rise.
"The government has given high priority to check inflation," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

Both fiscal and monetary measures have been adopted by the government for this purpose, he said.

Elaborating on anti-inflationary measures, he said, the government has allowed private trade to import wheat at zero duty. The customs duty on pulses has also been done away with.

In order to augment the domestic availability of foodgrain, he said, central issue price for wheat and rice has been kept unchanged from July 2002, while a ban has been imposed on export of non-Basmati rice.

Besides, futures trading in tur, urad, wheat and rice, has been suspended, while strengthening the monitoring mechanism of the public distribution system, he said.

About the monetary steps, he said, cash reserve ratio has been increased on many occasions to make it 7.5 per cent. Repo rate has also been revised upwards to suck up surplus liquidity from the market. PTI

FM confident indirect tax kitty to exceed Budget target

New Delhi, Feb 24 (PTI)

The Finance Ministry today expressed optimism that indirect tax collections would exceed the budget target of over Rs 2,79,000 crore for the current fiscal, even though the excise duty collections growth was a matter of concern.
"I am confident that the budget targets (for indirect tax collections) would exceed this year too," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said at an investiture ceremony of Presidential appreciation certificates for the officers of Central Excise, Customs and Narcotics departments here.

The Finance Minister said indirect tax collections exceeded the budget targets by Rs 8,615 crore in the 2005-06 fiscal, while in 2006-07, they surpassed the targets by Rs 11,300 crore.

Accordingly, the departments concerned were given Rs 86 crore and Rs 113 crore for these two years to provide better service conditions to their officials as part of the scheme to give one per cent of excess collections for this purpose.

Expressing confidence that indirect tax collections would surpass the budget targets this year as well, Chidambaram said this would enable the government to give one per cent excess collection to the departments concerned.

However, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman S K Shingal said growth rate of excise duty collections was a matter of concern.

Excise duty collections were growing at a rate of 7.6 per cent, he said. PTI