Hyderabad, October 23: The soared prices during the festival are pinching the pocket of the common man. With most of the items expensive, people are cutting down the quantity. The surging price of groceries and other goods are affecting everyone. For Prachi Desai, a manager at an investment banking firm, monthly grocery bills have jumped to about Rs 7,000, compared to Rs 5,500 in the last several months. The prices of vegetables and bakery products have also risen in the last few months. “Obviously, this would affect our Diwali celebrations,” adds Prachi. “Since the past several years we have been buying sweets as Diwali gifts for our relatives, colleagues and friends. Dry fruit sweets are the most expensive and I wonder what we are going to do this year,” she shudders.
Bitter-Sweet
It’s not just clothes that are costlier; the indispensable sweets and savouries are also priced higher. Sweets stores are working on strategies that will help tackle the pressure. Sweets are being packed in smaller quantities since store owners are not too sure if many families would buy in bulk like they used to.
They have also had to increase prices. Milk, butter, sugar and flour- everything that goes into making an irresistible sweet has turned dearer. We have absorbed a portion of the additional costs, but we cannot absorb it entirely. We are working out the deals in the best possible manner since everyone likes to celebrate the festive season with sweets, says an employee at Dilli Mithai.
A sweet shop owner says, “The cost of the basic material has gone up. Hence, we are left with no option but to hike the price.”
Price tags are set to pinch apparel buyers this festive season shopping. Reliance Trends, the retail arm of Reliance Industries, will raise price tags of its Spring Summer 2010 collections (in Feb 2011) while Shoppers Stop that stocks apparel brands from Madura, Arvind and Levis, has already effected a 5-7 per cent hike.
Losing its glitter!
The price of gold has increased from 15,000 per 10 gm last year to Rs 19,000 now. A rich man’s wife’s possession it’s the glitter of gold that catches the eye. Fit for window-shopping, the soaring price of yellow metal has just left most women wanting for more!
The price of gold is a big deterrent, the festive season calls for buying something made of this precious metal (Karva Chauth, Diwali etc ) but going by the global rise in gold prices there is no denying the fact that one needs to find an alternative to gold. Ask the ladies and they too agree that gold is really priced high. Sneha Dubey, home maker, says, “Diamond is a girl’s best friend and when you have an alternative in better designs and prices equivalent to gold, why pick the yellow gold?”But isn’t gold forever? Priyanka Shaligram, an architect answers to this, “When you have so many designs in studded jewellery, why pick the expensive gold.”
–Agencies