Consumers paying 60% more than wholesale prices
In addition to consumers, farmers had also been hit hard due to the huge difference in wholesale and retail prices.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI /MUMBAI: Consumers are currently paying as much as 60 per cent more than the wholesale price of essential commodities, which marks a threefold increase over the normal average difference between retail and mandi prices, a recent study has shown.
Apart from globally high oil and metal prices, rising food prices had pushed the country's inflation up to 7.41 per cent for the week ended March 29.
In addition to consumers, farmers had also been hit hard due to the huge difference in wholesale and retail prices as the monetary benefits are mostly cornered by middlemen and traders, said the study by industry body ASSOCHAM.
Apart from globally high oil and metal prices, rising food prices had pushed the country's inflation up to 7.41 per cent for the week ended March 29.
In addition to consumers, farmers had also been hit hard due to the huge difference in wholesale and retail prices as the monetary benefits are mostly cornered by middlemen and traders, said the study by industry body ASSOCHAM.
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The study further pointed out how the difference between wholesale and retail rates from December 2003 to January this year was almost double the 33 per cent difference between minimum support price (MSP) and wholesale prices in the same period.
MSP is something the government announces periodically to ensure fair prices to farmers, based on recommendations by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. Its relationship to wholesale rates is usually less than that of wholesale to retail rates.
"Normally, the difference between wholesale and retail prices - on an average - stays around 20 per cent. But for supplies of essential goods, it has gone to a much higher level (60 per cent)," the industry body noted.
Courtesy: Mumbai Mirror
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