<p>Understanding price dynamics in food commodities, including the factors influencing demand and supply, is critical for policy actions aimed at achieving price stability. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of price dynamics and value chains within India’s agricultural sector, focusing on key commodities that significantly impact food inflation and market stability.</p> <p><br /> Employing robust methodological frameworks, including monthly balance sheets and various forecasting techniques, the book examines the factors driving price formation across livestock products, cereals, pulses, vegetables, and fruits, while also providing medium- to short-term forecasts. By addressing commodity-specific challenges, the analysis highlights inefficiencies within agricultural value chains and their role in exacerbating price volatility.</p> <p><br /> Drawing from extensive research, the book offers targeted policy recommendations aimed at addressing these challenges and enhancing the efficiency of agricultural value chains. The findings emphasize strategies to stabilize prices, improve supply chain resilience, and strengthen the linkages between production and markets. This book serves as an essential resource for policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders seeking to mitigate food inflation and foster a more efficient and stable agricultural economy in India.</p>

<p><strong>Dr. Shyma Jose</strong> is an Assistant Professor at Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University, and was a former Research fellow at ICRIER. Her research focuses on nutrition, agriculture, food security, poverty, employment, and labour market conditions. She holds a PhD in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, where her doctoral thesis explored informal employment and decent work conditions in the garment industry. She has published extensively in national and international journals and contributed to book chapters on topics such as food and nutritional security, gender disparities in malnutrition, education, and the informalization of the workforce.</p> <p><br /> <strong>Dr. Ranjana Roy</strong> is currently Senior Fellow at ICRIER. She has published in peer reviewed journals, books, and widely circulated newspapers on poverty, malnutrition, agriculture market, and livelihood sustainability of farmers. Her Ph.D. thesis was on “Causes and Impact of Changing Consumption Pattern in India for the Period 1993-94 to 2009-10: A State Level Study” from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She did her M.Phil. dissertation on “Change in Grain Consumption Pattern in Rural India: Analysis for the period of 1993-94 and 2004-05”.&nbsp;</p> <p><br /> <strong>Dr. Ashok Gulati</strong> is currently Distinguished Professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). Prior to this, he was a Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), Government of India (2011-14). He is currently a Member of the Eleventh Audit Advisory Board of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, and an Independent Director of the Board of Directors of Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (KMBL) and Godrej Agrovet Limited. He has 18 books to his credit on Indian and Asian Agriculture, besides numerous research papers in national and international Journals. He did his M.A. and Ph.D. from Delhi School of Economics.</p>

<p><strong>Asish Thomas George,</strong> Director, Reserve Bank of India. Mr. Asish Thomas George joined the Reserve Bank of India in 2005. He has worked in areas covering inflation analysis and forecasting, monetary transmission, and fiscal analysis. He has published several papers on topics related to inflation, including inflation measurement, and monetary policy. He was also part of the team that developed the Quarterly Projection Model (QPM) of the Reserve Bank. He has also contributed to various Reserve Bank publications including the Monetary Policy Report and the Report on Currency and Finance and has served as resource person for working groups and committees. He holds an M. Phil degree in Applied Economics from Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram and is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB).</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Binod B. Bhoi,</strong> Director, Department of Economic and Policy Research, Reserve Bank of India, joined the Reserve Bank of India in 2000. He has worked on inflation, money, banking, balance of payments, economic modelling and forecasting. In between, he had worked at the Bank of England during 2011-12 and Qatar Central Bank during 2014-17 on deputation. He has published articles on money, inflation, forecasting and monetary policy and has contributed to various RBI publications – Annual Report and theme-based Report on Currency and Finance. He holds an M. Phil degree in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University and is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB).</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Dr. D. Suganthi</strong> is a manager at the Monetary Policy Department, Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Her research interests encompass agriculture markets and markups of market intermedearies, commodity prices and food inflation, agricultural productivity growth and trade policy, nutrition and applied econometrics. She holds a bachelor’s in mathematics from the University of Madras and a master’s and Ph.D. in economics from the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research. She has published papers in reputed peer-reviewed journals and edited books. Prior to joining the RBI, she served as a research associate in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded System for Promoting Appropriate National Dynamism for Agriculture and Nutrition.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Dr. Raya Das</strong> is currently Fellow at ICRIER. She has published peer reviewed journals on public policy, credit, land relation, agriculture market, and livelihood sustainability of farmers. Her Ph.D. thesis was on “Agrarian Dynamics and Organisation of production in West Bengal” from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She did her M.Phil. dissertation on “Variation in Productivity, Farm Income and Subsistence among Agricultural Households in India: A Study Based on Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers 2012- 13”.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Harsh Wardhan</strong> is a Fellow at ICRIER with over 10 years of experience in the area of agricultural economics and policy research. Before re-joining ICRIER, he worked at the Food and Agriculture Centre of Excellence (FACE), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), where he led several research studies and policy advocacy initiatives in the food, agriculture, and allied sectors. In his previous tenure at ICRIER, he extensively worked on agricultural policy issues, contributing to key projects on agricultural markets, value chains, and price analysis. He has also worked as a Consultant with the Office of the Economic Advisor, Ministry of Commerce &amp; Industry, Government of India, and as a Research/Academic Associate at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. His research outputs include books, book chapters, reports, and articles published in esteemed journals and newspapers.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Himani Shekhar</strong> works as a manager in the Department of Economic and Policy Research at Reserve Bank of India (RBI) specializing in understanding price dynamics of commodities and inflation forecast. Holding master’s degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics, she has published several research articles some of which are - Alternative Inflation Forecasting Models for India–What Performs Better in Practice?, Rural-urban inflation dynamics in India, Inflation at Risk: Tail Risks of Inflation in India, Extreme Weather Events and Vegetables Inflation in India, Price Stickiness in CPI and its Sensitivity to Demand Shocks in India, Anatomy of Vegetable Price Volatility and Drivers of Demand and Supply Inflation in India.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Manish Kumar Prasad</strong> is an Analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit and a former Research Associate at ICRIER. At ICRIER, he worked on agricultural value chains, price dynamics, and food inflation forecasting in India. Currently, he is involved in researching global demand and supply dynamics of agricultural, industrial, and energy commodities. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. He has published various policy articles, briefs, reports, and book chapters, including two articles in Economic and Political Weekly on food inflation policies. His current research focuses on the effects of climate change on agricultural and energy commodities, as well as the global transition of the electric vehicle (EV) market, and its diversification prospects across major economies.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Renjith Mohan</strong> is a Manager (Research) at Department of Statistics and Information Management, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), working presently on issues related to inflation analysis and forecasting of retail inflation. He has been at the Reserve Bank for more than five years. Prior to RBI, he worked as a Junior Research Fellow at the Indian Statistical Institute (Chennai) and as an Assistant Professor at Govt. Arts and Science College, Kozhikode. He has completed his Masters in Statistics from University of Calicut, Kerala and is also a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB) from Indian Institute of Banking and Finance. He has contributed to research publications in areas of econometrics and statistical inferences.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Rishabh Kumar </strong>is Manager (Research) in the Division of Rural Economics at the Department of Economics and Policy Research of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a position he has held since 2018. During his tenure of 6 years, he has contributed significantly to the RBI’s work, particularly in the field of food and agriculture. He has also represented the RBI internationally in the SEACEN’s collaborative project on Inflation Measurement and Implications for Monetary Policy. He earned his PhD in Agricultural Economics from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. Apart from his regular desk work, he has also contributed to the research literature focusing on agricultural economics and development.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Rohan Bansal </strong>is a Manager at the Policy Analysis Division, Monetary Policy Department, Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He specializes in econometric modelling, inflation analysis, and macroeconomic forecasting. Rohan has played a key role in drafting several chapters of the RBI’s Monetary Policy Report and contributed to RBI’s “State of the Economy” articles. He has co-authored multiple research papers on consumption inequality, core inflation, and the economic impact of COVID-19, published in leading journals like Economic &amp; Political Weekly. He holds an M.A. in Economics from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. He has also served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Delhi.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Sabarni Chowdhury </strong>is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the Galgotias University, Greater Noida. Previously, she has worked as a Research Associate at ICRIER. Before ICRIER, she worked as a research assistant at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi. Her research focuses on labour, migration, employment and agriculture. She has published in some peer reviewed journals on topics of economic growth and development. She is pursuing her PhD from JNU on the relationship between migration and unemployment with focus on OECD countries. She has completed her M.Phil from the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Sanchit Gupta</strong> is a Research Associate at University of Chicago Trust and former Research Assistant at ICRIER. At ICRIER, he worked on agricultural value chains, post-harvest losses and grains storage policies in India. Currently he is involved in agricultural schemes evaluation with the Department of Agriculture in Odisha. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Delhi and a Masters in Agribusiness Economics from Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune. He has published various policy articles, briefs, reports and book chapters at ICRIER. His current research focuses on agri-entrepreneurship and rice fallows.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Sandip Das</strong> holds more than two decades of experience as Journalist, Columnist, and Researcher in areas of agriculture and food security. Research and reportage areas include economic implications of food security provisions, exports, tracking prices trend of agricultural commodities, macro policies and their implications. Currently associated with The Financial Express, as Senior Assistant Editor, he extensively writes on agriculture and allied sectors. Earlier he was associated with the leading media organizations - The Financial Express, Business Standard, Press Trust of India and Down to Earth magazine. Also was associated as ‘Senior Consultant’ with ICRIER. He has authored research papers on food security and agricultural marketing and contributed articles on food safety and consumer rights to leading national dailies and journals.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Sanjib Bordoloi</strong> is a Director in the Monetary Policy Department, Reserve Bank of India with an experience of more than 25 years. He represented the Reserve Bank in the Expert Committee on International Comparison Programme (ICP) 2021, Working Group on Producer Price Index (2017), Sub-group on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) on Agricultural Commodities and Sub-group on WPI Mining, Fuel and Power; formed by the Government of India. His research interests are in the areas of business cycle analysis, national accounts, price statistics, analysis and forecasting output and inflation. He has published various research articles in reputed national and international journals.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Shelja Bhatia</strong> is a Manager at the Monetary Policy Department, Reserve Bank of India (RBI). She specializes in analysing inflation trends and delivering monthly forecasts supporting monetary policy deliberations. She also contributes to RBI’s policy communication, co-authoring the Monetary Policy Report. Her research, through monthly articles and other analytical notes, primarily addresses post-pandemic inflation dynamics. Her broader research interests also span empirical macroeconomics, monetary policy, banking, and economic uncertainty.She holds an M.Phil. in Applied Economics and a Master’s in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Soumasree Tewari</strong> is an Assistant Adviser, Prices and Monetary Research Division, Department of Economic and Policy Research (DEPR), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Mumbai, as part of the inflation analysis and forecasting team. She has earlier worked in the Division of International Finance in DEPR. Previously, she has served as a faculty of economics in Sivanath Shastri College, Surendranath College for Women under Calcutta University and Indian Institute of Bio Social Research and Development in Kolkata. She is an M. Phil in economics from Jadavpur University, Kolkata with specialisation in international trade and finance. Her area of work includes international economics, inflation, and monetary policy.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Suvendu Sarkar</strong> is presently working as Assistant Adviser in the Inflation Analysis Division of Department of Statistics and Information Management of Reserve Bank of India. He has been at the Reserve Bank for more than fifteen years and has worked in Department of Supervision for six years. He holds a master’s degree in Statistics &amp; Informatics from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and is also a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB) from Indian Institute of Banking and Finance. He has contributed to research publications in area of banking and finance.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Thangzason Sonna,</strong> Director in the Department of Economic and Policy Research (DEPR) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) joined the RBI in 2005 and has worked in diverse areas such as global economy, financial and commodity spillovers, banking, real sectors and modelling and forecasting. He has published articles in the areas of food inflation, monetary policy shocks, financial connectivity, crude contagions, climate change, industrial production and productivity, renewable energy, and has contributed to various RBI publications including the Annual Report and the theme-based Report on Currency and Finance. He holds an M. Phil degree in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Vimal Kishore</strong> works as an Assistant General Manager in the Financial Inclusion and Development Department at Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He has worked in the area of inflation and prices of commodities and has published several research articles and papers in this area while working in the Department of Economic and Policy Research at RBI. His work includes impact of extreme weather events on inflation, regional price dynamics and usage of sentiments through text mining to forecast inflation in India. He is interested in forecasting techniques and usage of machine learning techniques for forecasting.</p>