ours, where prices have been generally displaying a continuously rising trend, an investor is forced to be constantly on the lookout for channels of investment which would act as hedge against inflation. Except during the First Plan when prices actually declined, the Indian economy has presented a picture of galloping inflation. While the index number of wholesale prices fell by 17.4 per cent during the First Plan period, it rose by 35.0 per cent and 32.2 per cent during the Second and Third Plans respectively, and then by 257 per cent during the next three years, and again by 537 per cent during the Fourth Plan.
