‘Genuine shortfalls pushing up prices’

Shortage of supply of commodities such as pulses are pushing up prices, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

Shortage of supply of commodities such as pulses are pushing up prices, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

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“The classical theory that too much money chasing too few goods is not applicable here, because there are genuine shortfalls. It is mainly because of imbalance between demand and supply,” Mukherjee said.

He said India’s total production of pulses is 14.80 million tonnes, while our requirement is 18 million tonnes.

The availability of sugar would be about 16 million tonnes and our requirement would be 23 million tonnes. There is a shortfall and it is pushing up the prices, he said.