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Indian Inflation: Out of Control?
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While some harp on about the growing dangers of yet another housing bubble in the western world, there are other more important things perhaps that are going on in other countries in the world. But, they are of little interest since we are not directly concerned by them. How is it that we only care about what’s actually happening in the back yard while someone round the block might be doing something or on the receiving end of something pretty bad and yet we don’t give a damn about what happens to them? While we are concerned with our bubbles, there are people in India that are suffering from the rise in prices that is drastically changing the way they live.
Over the past year inflation has been driven up by food prices. In September alone food prices were at their highest level for the past seven months and it seems that India is now going through the worst financial crisis that it has ever experienced since 1991.
- The Indian wholesale price index (WPI) rose by 6.46% in September.
- This was largely due to the fact that food prices have increased beyond control.
- Since the start of this year onions have increased by 322%, for example.
- Food prices have increased by an annual rate of 18.4% so far according to data released by the Indian government on Monday this week.
Food prices have been increasing due to supply shortages in India which were brought about to climatic conditions and rain. Today the price of a kilogram of onions amounts to 75 rupees today (or $1.22). One third of the Indian population still earns less than $1.25 per day in the country and that means that buying basic foodstuffs is pretty much out of their price range today. Food prices have hit the political agenda as a result and have been made a key issue in the run-up to the general elections that are going to take place within the next 7-month period.

Traders and shop owners are reaping the rewards of a rapid rise in prices today. But, the shopkeepers will not be able to keep hiking prices to recoup on the price increases as the people will run out of money. The real people are at the short end of the stick and suffering from the consequences of the hike that is almost daily now.
India is not the only one suffering from high inflation today in the world. Other emerging countries have also recently seen highs in their own rates. China had a consumer-inflation rate that hit3.1% in September. That was also the highest it had been for the past seven months. Food prices in China have increased by6.1% so far this year. However, in comparison with Indian data, that seems as if it is insignificant.
- India is having immense difficulty increasing economic growth in the country and it has a 5%-growth rate that hasn’t been seen for the past decade.
- The rupee has already hit lows that have rarely been seen before (it has lost 10% since the start of the year against the dollar) and inflation looks as if it will be fuelled by the interest rates that have been increased by theReserve Bank of India.
- There has been a general outflow of capital from India since the start of this year due to the slow-down in the economy.
- Inflation stood at 2.1% in September for India and it’s that which is the most worrying element perhaps today (at least for the population).
While India has problems with its economy and price stability, it’s the people that will be suffering the most. When food prices increase and they get out of control, it’s the third of the population that is living with just over a dollar a day that will have trouble making ends meet more than they already did in the past.
Originally posted: Indian Inflation: Out of Control?
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No kite flying is not that great anymore. It is not the way it used to be Falak pema. India is becoming westernized and I honestly fuckin hate it....and please ignorant fuckin indians on zh stop fuckin bashing people, you don't speak for the indian race you dumb bitches. You know who you are
As Fukushima Spent Fuel Pool 4 work goes on, this is a perfect time to review your own preparations?
You are prepared to Shelter in Place, right?
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http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/p/radiation-preparation-resources.html
Let all those taking jobs here send the fiat back. Hamburgers walking around could feed millions.
So "crop failures" - shortages - are driving up prices? Hard to believe it's so simple...
But maybe it's top-end "economic growth". Or simply money-printing. Or loss of faith in the currency. Or loss of government legitimacy...or all of these.
As long as they don't try to come across the Mexcan border it's all good for me.
There is only one way to fix all this: Make gold and silver the reserve currency of the world.
Unfortunately I am reminded of high school fruit fly experiments. Nature has a way of with dealing with runaway population growth.
Red wigglers will do likewise.
Watch what you think.......you may come back as an Indian child or, better yet, a fruit fly...........
Monumental food wastage also happens in India. Bloomberg once reported that as much as 40% of bananas are wasted for lack of proper transportation with storage facilities.
They still cannot get the supply chain right.
It is also a place where pretty much everyone above poverty line gorges on food. Diabetes is almost an epidemic and there are fat slobs everywhere in cities.
Always a bundle of contrast. Incredible india indeed!
There is no incentive to fix the distribution system, because those who control it also control food price at both ends of the chain.
Last week onions were 37 rupees/kg in Jodhpur, but hit 100 rupees in Delhi. Jodhpur is 350 miles, or ten hours drive by car, fifteen plus by truck, from Delhi. Of course, one has to survive that drive. Arbitrage!
Middleman fuckery accounts for the giant swings in margin more than rain ever did. This is definitely another case of middleman hoarding.
2010 much?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Indian_onion_crisis
Yes, and fatty liver. Nearly a third of urban Indians have fatty liver. Genetically susceptible, and then the modern diet is the trigger. They don't even have to be very fat, to get it.
China buys our paper currency with real goods then warehouses our paper.
Awesome!
How long will they keep it up?
Doesn't India look like it was constructed from items bought at an old lady's garage sale.
Unfortunately, there hasn't been much constructed there since the British left.
Au contraire!
If you are lucky enough to be offered a job you'll probably be working for one!
And only you moron Americans can think of that as a bad thing, we indians dont throw away things once they become faulty, we repair them, Its called "JUGAAD". We use Cycle tyres as TV Antennas etc, Old Refirgerators as air conditioners....
not like you dumb americans who buy a new trinket gadget just because your overlords at Madison Avenue and in Hollywood tell you to. LoL.
No wonder India has the highest Concentration of Gold in the World.
Are Indians the new Jews? That won't work out very well. There are to damn many of you
IndianGoldsmith, I traveled around India in 1984 and there was no garbage anywhere; everything was scavenged and reused. But now I read travellers' accounts that these days there are mountains of garbage everywhere; giant piles of refuse that just sit uncollected and unwanted. I'm sure you reuse much more than Americans, but times have changed in India, too.
True. Western Cultural influx accelerated post 1991 liberalization and the IT boom. And with it, ignorance boomed too.
Good to hear that things are going so well in India! Jugaad must be something great.
Shodge, are you an obese american, or an ignorant one...perhaps both?
That's why india is and looks like a shithole. Standardize things and they might have a chance of reaching something resembling normal
don't know if you got the memo, or not, but we're headed to a major reset.
Oh yeah?
Am I invited?
No one sent me a memo.
Solution - Give the Indian people EBT cards linked to the Fed's balance sheet. End world hunger!
Part of the Indian Current Account deficit is due to gold importation.
They like physical gold.
It has been pointed out by an Indian Central Banker that, if Indians bought shares of GLD instead, the country would be credited with Foreign Capital Investment!
How fucked up is that!!!?
paper good...metal bad...
I didn't see a word from Pivotfarm about how India, China, Japan, Australia, etc, weaken their currencies in order to strengthen the dollar. They buy dollars and warehouse them before they hit the foreign exchange markets, sparing the US from inflation.
They absorb our inflation on purpose, helping keep US sheeple asleep while congress dismantles the Constitution.
"Exporting inflation" is spin, how about theft; triffin's dillema, Nixon gold window, 70's oil shock.
No big deal. The US has a history of screwing over Indians.
Are we talking woo woo woo Indians or red dot indians, I'm confused?
The correct term is "feather or dot?" Woo woo woo is just damn insensitive.
i missed it entirely....i thought he meant like yogi woo-woo .
You've both got it all wrong...
It's either "woo woo" Indians
or, "Hi, thank you for calling the Dell helpline" Indians.
(says the guy whose mother was the first one born off the tribal lands or reservation)
Correct.
Could it also be a result of a new Indian baby born every minute? Every 60 seconds!!
Could you imagine satisfying their caloric needs when SHTF??
Harvest that country already!
Indian fertility rates are way down, and their levels are very regional. There are parts of India where the birth rate is the same as in Western countries.
The birthrate is still much higher among Muslims than Hindus: "Even in Kerala – a highly educated state and a state with low poverty levels – the Muslim population has a high TFR of 3.0 while the Hindus and Christians in that state have managed to go below the 2 mark – 1.7 for Hindus and 1.8 for Christians" (2011, Times of India).
A huge problem is that Indians are still performing sex-selective abortions like crazy; the problem is actually getting worse:
"According to India’s 2011 census, the gap between boys and girls born in India has grown even wider in the last decade. The Times of India reported: India’s gender imbalance has grown even as the country has witnessed strong economic growth. The 2011 census showed 914 girls for every 1,000 boys younger than 6. That was a drop from 927 girls for every 1,000 boys a decade previously.
What is truly gross is that women from higher income, better educated are way MORE likely to abort their daugters, than women from poorer families: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/world/asia/25india.html?_r=0
It's morally abhorent, but also bad for social stability. This will not end well.
"It's morally abhorent, but also bad for social stability. This will not end well."
Are you really concerned about morality? Sons vs daughters is really bothering you? The NY times is known for it's selective propaganda Karen. Without the current ponzi scam which is collapsing, it's not easy to raise children without a good man. You know, I see there's a bigger reason for the leveling. Perspective.
Um, yes. Actually it is the ethical/moral aspect of it that I care about. I only pointed out the social stability aspect, because this is ZH, and most readers here are interested in trigggers of social disruption.
There are about a million articles out there re sex selective abortion in India. The seriously skewed sex ratios were first noted decades ago by Amartya Sen (then it was female death due to neglect, not abortion, since the ultrasounds weren't available). They all say the same thing; there's lots of it. Would you rather I cited the Times of India instead of the NYT? Oh - but I did (I guess you didn't notice). What media source would you prefer? Do you have any study that shows the NYT article or the Times of India article are wrong? I'd be thrilled if you did, but I've been following this horror for years, and I've not seen any articles that are inconsistent with these.
I'm truly not sure what your point is. You seem to be trying to make some clever subtle point. Really, on a blog post it is better to just try to be clear.
Higher crime and violence when young men can't find partners to start families.
It does mean a thing if you can't get that schwing.
The plus side is a ready to go source of cannon fodder.
I call it carbon fodder.
Over.
Hey dumbfuk, look at this : http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=100364 and go back to watching Honey Boo Boo
Hey Third Eye.
I looked at your link. So you are growing more wheat and more pulses. So?
What am I missing here?
indians with a long history of focusing on that single grain of sand while you rest yourselves on the beach.
It's coming bro:
http://gizmodo.com/5835730/this-machine-liquifies-human-bodies
Centrifuge the carbon out. Dope it with Boron.
See:
Engineering Carbon for Impressive Hydrogen Storage
http://phys.org/news162195986.html
and:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/cr050972v
Would you like fossil diesel, or indian? Yes the indian is $62 rupee cheaper.
I'll show you a technology revolution.
how is kite flying doing in India; is it Jugaad as well?
Jugaad sounds kinda cool.
Back in the old days it would translate to "nigger rigging"
But that is so not PC. Today we call it Afro Engineering.
Why would anyone - and I mean ANYONE - who lives in India ... *not* grow their own damn onions?
Grow 'em in a pot, if you have to.
Remember the character from The Professional? He'd'a grown his own damn onions on the window sill.
Crap. Making some kind of rough translation, the article is talking about $50 or $100 for a small bag of onions.
If onions cost that in the U.S., I'd burn my fucking house down and plant onions where it was.