Retail prices of essential items jump up to 40%

NEW DELHI: Retail prices of 23 essential items, including onion, washing soap, saree, rose up to 40% during the second half of 2008, according to the price data placed before Parliament.

Barring eight items, including potato, wheat, gram dal, and mustard oil, prices of 23 commodities surged in the range of 1-40% during the review period, it said.

The maximum price rise was seen in onion, which rose by 40% to Rs 218 a 10 kg during August-December 2008, the analysis of the data showed.

Fast moving consumer items like match box rose by 13.94% to Rs 1.32 per 37 sticks, washing soap by 15.47% to Rs 17 per piece, and soft coke by 2.23% to Rs 18.7 per 500 gram. Saree rates also moved up by 1.17% to Rs 118 during the review period.

The price data of 31 essential commodities were provided by minister of state for consumer affairs Taslimuddin in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

In food items, goat meat and fresh fish became costlier by 5.69%, while prices of pulses like arhar, masur and urad were seen rising up to 12.26%. Milk also rose by 3.78% to Rs 17.4 per litre in the second half of 2008, the data showed.