Govt's tailor-made schemes saved poor from impact of inflation: Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi, July 12: Government's tailor-made programmes during the Covid-19 pandemic has helped in having a negligible impact of inflation-led price hike on the poor and marginalised, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

"A recent UNDP report "Addressing the Cost-of-Living Crisis in Developing Countries" shows that inflation will have only a negligible impact on poverty in India, adding that targeted transfers (such as what India has been doing) help poorer households cope with price spikes." Sitharaman tweeted.

"The report says that food and energy inflation could push up to 71 million people into poverty globally. It also says that "We find that targeted & time-bound cash transfers are the most effective policy tool to address the impacts," she said.

"From the beginning of the pandemic, Modi Govt has implemented such targetted & time-bound transfers of food and cash to those at the bottom of the pyramid through the PMGKAY and PMGKY. These results highlight the effectiveness of this strategy," she further said.

The UNDP report said inflation in India will not push anybody below the lower poverty line of USD 1.9 per day, while only 0.02 per cent and 0.04 per cent of the population will go below higher poverty lines of USD 3.3 per day and USD 5.5 per day, respectively.

Under the PMGKAY, the government provided 5 kilogram free ration per person per month in addition to their normal quota of foodgrains under the National Food Security Act.

From April 2020 to September 2022, the government has allocated 1,003 lakh MT of foodgrains for PMGKAY, benefiting 80 crore for two-and-a-half years.