High food prices putting pressure on spendings: Assocham

NEW DELHI: High prices of food items have pulled down households' spending power on non-food articles by 65 per cent during May-July period, a survey said.

"Majority of households' real spending power on non-food articles fell by over 65 per cent in the May-July period with steep rise in prices of fruits & vegetables and essential commodities like milk, eggs, meat and fish, according to a survey by industry chamber Assocham.

The survey, conducted across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Bangalore, found that vegetables and fruit prices have gone up by 300 per cent on apprehensions of deficient monsoon.

The spending power has declined the highest in Delhi-NCR, followed by Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

"Over 88 per cent of middle income group and lower income group find it difficult to manage the household budget and squeezing families' finances to the lowest level due to uncertainty rains," the survey said.

Over 89 per cent of the survey respondents said that the price of every commodity has gone up. The spiralling inflation has pinched middle class families across the country, it said.

The overall inflation declined to 6.87 per cent in July, from 7.25 per cent in June. However, food inflation continued to remain over 10 per cent.