Agrarian Performance and Food Price Inflation in India

Examining long-term trends in food inflation in India in relation to the performance of the Indian agricultural sector under various agrarian policy regimes, this paper shows that despite the slowdown in the agricultural sector and higher increases in the cost of food production during the post-economic reforms period (1992-2013), food prices were relatively low compared to the initial (1967-80) and the maturing (1980-92) stages of the Green Revolution. This, it is argued, is possibly due to more stable agricultural growth post 1991-92, higher buffer food stocks, greater coverage of the public distribution system, and better responses to food price fluctuations due to import/trade liberalisation and a more comfortable foreign exchange reserves position.