Chidambaram says economy stable, inflation being curbed

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has said the "economy has stabilised" and the government is taking steps to curb inflation.

Praising its efforts to stabilise the economy, the finance minister said the government is selling food-grains in the open market in order to check inflation.

"We are willing to sell more food grains in the open market, as it is a good method to cool down prices," Chidambaram said at a press conference in the national capital on Thursday.

He said the inflation is mostly driven by the higher prices of food items, vegetables, fruits, milk, meat and egg.

"The government had sold 69.01 lakh tonnes of wheat in the open market in the year 2012-13, while in the following year, the government sold 61.10 lakh tonnes of wheat," the minister said.

Similarly, the government had sold 0.99 lakh tonnes of rice during 2012-13, while in 2013-14, the government sold 1.48 lakh tonnes of rice in the open market.

The finance minister said the foreign direct investment (FDI) during 2013-14 was of the order of $26.90 billion, while it was $26.95 billion in the previous year.

He also praised the performance of the public sector undertakings (PSUs) for driving domestic investment and said expenditure by PSUs has also risen.

"In the year 2012-2013, the expenditure was Rs.1,11,824 crore, while in the following fiscal it was Rs.1,16,860 crore," he said.