Manmohan Singh holds meeting on price rise

NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday held a high level meeting on spiralling food prices and to conduct a review on food inflation, which has gone past 18 per cent.

Senior ministers, including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia attended the meeting.

Food inflation rose to 18.32 per cent for the week ended December 25, due to rise in prices of vegetables like onion, milk and meat.

Retail price of onion continues to rule high at Rs. 55-60 per kg in major parts of the country due to sluggish supply.

Producers in India's biggest onion market at Nashik had stopped selling onions on Monday protesting I-T raids on them, a measure to crackdown on hoarding.