Food price inflation will likely stay on the policymakers agenda with the upcoming Union Budget 2025 providing further inputs on providing stability in domestic food prices. In July last year, Finance Minister had allocated Rs 10,000 crore to set up a ‘price stabilization fund’ to keep food inflation under check. In previous budget, allocations to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution have seen a bump, from Rs 258 crore (under ‘revenue’) in the revised estimates for 2023-24, to Rs 10,237 crore for 2024-25, indicating the provisioning for price stabilization fund. The provision (for the price stabilization fund) is for maintaining buffer stock of pulses, onions and potatoes and making sufficient availability of said commodities in the market so as to cool down the prices as and when required, the Ministry’s expenditure budget had noted. The FM Nirmala Sitharaman had opined that India’s inflation continues to be low, stable and moving towards the 4 per cent target. Latest data showed that year-on-year inflation rate based on All India Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of December 2024 over December 2023 is 5.22% (Provisional). However, year-on-year inflation rate based on All India Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) for the month of December 2024 over December, 2023 is 8.39% (Provisional).