FINANCE Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said inflation management cannot be “singularly” left to the monetary policy as a majority of activities are outside its purview in the current context.

Speaking at a seminar organised by economic think-tank Icrier, the Finance Minister said that both the fiscal policy and the monetary policy have to work together to contain inflation.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation or retail inflation is ruling above the Reserve Bank’s comfort level of 6 per cent since January. The central bank, which has been tasked by the government to keep inflation within 2-4 per cent range, has hiked the key policy rate by 140 basis points since May with an aim to check the rate of price rise.

Inflation management cannot be singularly left to monetary policy, which has proved totally ineffective in many countries, she said.

“The RBI will have to synchronise somewhat, maybe not as much synchronised as other western developed countries would do. I am not prescribing anything to the Reserve Bank...