RBI to examine reasons for sudden surge in food prices

KOLKATA: India’s food preferences seem to be changing. While it is consuming less food grains these days, its love for nutritious and high-value commodities like milk, fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs and fish have grown manifold.

The structural change in demand appears to have driven the dynamics of the food grain and non-food grain markets.

So much so, RBI has initiated a research to examine the structural issues that led to the surge in food prices like never before. The central bank plans to announce its initial findings later this week.

“There is a structural change in the demand pattern of food,” said RBI deputy governor Subir Gokarn, who heads the research group that is studying the demand pattern.

The country’s chief statistician Pronab Sen recently said per capita food grain consumption has dipped and there is a rise in demand for non-food grain items.

If anything, studies on food demand patterns depict a change in the nutrition intake both in rural and urban areas.