RBI governor D Subbarao briefs finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on inflation

The Reserve Bank of India governor Duvvuri Subbarao on Saturday briefed the country''s finance minister (FM) on the current inflationary situation but gave no details of the meeting.                                           

"The FM wanted a briefing on the inflationary situation and I briefed him," Subbarao told reporters after meeting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh's government, battling high inflation, has been criticised for spiralling prices.

Street protests have echoed in parliament, where opposition parties have stalled proceedings.  

Latest government data showed wholesale price inflation, the most widely watched measure of prices, was at 10.55 percent in June, holding in double digits for the fifth straight month.       

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which has increasingly adopted a hawkish tone on inflation, has raised rates more than expected. 

On Tuesday, the RBI raised the repo rate, at which it lends to banks, by 25 bps to 5.75%, matching forecasts. But it bumped up the reverse repo rate, used to absorb excess cash, by 50 bps to 4.50%-- twice as much as markets had expected.